You Ought to Know
by Green Kneesocks
Summary: Mob and Reigen are official. Time to tell everyone. Some people will be easier than others but this has to be done. Along the way some big conversations will need to be had. This was a proper adult relationship after all. Sequel to A Forgone Conclusion or Star Shine and Angel Wine. Takes place in the same continuity of Shigeko Kageyama AKA Mob. Fem!Mob. MobXReigen
1. The Morning After

Mob's first thought, when she woke up, was sticky. She felt warm and sticky, more so in some places than in others. She was covered in a sheen of sweat, very warm. She stretched, well tried to. Someone next to her stirred.

Oh.

She remembered. She remembered everything.

"What time's it?" asked Reigen, his voice gravelly with sleep. His arm was thrown around her, his legs looped around hers. She was so small and warm beside him.

"Let me see." Said Mob. She pulled the blanket up off her head and motioned for her phone. Usually it was on the charger on the desk. Well, it was still on the desk at least. The desk had just decided to relocate to upside down and on the other side of the room.

"Mob…time?" Said Reigen. He wondered if they could go back to sleep for just a little while longer. If they could just hold onto last night for just a little while longer. To hold onto her for a little while longer.

"It's a little after six, Master…I mean…Arataka." said Mob. She looked down at him. His eyes were still closed. His hair was wild around his head, sticky up in all directions like he had been caught in a hurricane. She looked around the room, maybe he had.

The floor was gone. It was covered by everything the owned. Clothes, mostly. Books, pages from books, and covers without books in them. There was shiny specks all over the floor, too. Broken glass from the mirror? No, it was powdered glass now. Mob called a larger piece over to herself. It was rubbed smooth, like sea glass.

"Come back to me, then." Said Reigen. The bed was too cold without her. He could feel her sitting up. He opened his eyes, she was holding something shiny in her hand.

"I'm here with you, Arataka. I always will be." Said Mob. She was right there next to him. This was where she belonged. She belonged at his side, in his bed, for perpetuity. His bed. This bed. **Their **bed.

"You want to be?" asked Reigen. That was a stupid question, he knew that it was. She had been the one to approach him. She had made the first move. Then why did it still feel weird. It felt right and weird at the same time. He tried to shake the feeling that he had somehow taken advantage of her.

"I do. I want it more than anything else in my entire life." Said Mob. Last night had been the best night of her life, and not just because of how amazing he made her feel physically. He loved her. He loved her **back.**

"Mob…Mob what do you want?" asked Reigen. Last night was…the culmination of seven years together. The evolution, the transmutation, of their relationship. From Master and student to friends and equals, to lovers and…to lovers and a couple…what would they transmute to next?

"I want the same thing I wanted last night, Arataka." said Mob. Love. She wanted love. She wanted to be a couple and everything that came with it. She wanted to hold hands as they walked down the street. She wanted to kiss him whenever they felt like it. She wanted to cuddle and fall asleep in front of the TV. She wanted to lay next to him every single night. She wanted to lay next to him and feel everything that he could give her. She wanted to feel everything that he could make her feel and she wanted to make him feel everything that she could make him feel.

Instrumentality. She wanted instrumentality with him and she had gotten it. They could have it again and again and again. Whenever she wanted. Whenever they wanted.

It was dizzying.

"Again?" asked Reigen feeling her feelings. He was messing with her. He couldn't, not now, he hadn't even brushed his teeth.

"….if you want to…but I want love, too. I want…I want us to be a couple." Said Mob. She blushed, a little, because she was naked and he was naked, if not for the blanket, and the two of them could have instrumentality again right then and there on that bed. Well, after she brushed her teeth and washed the stickiness off.

"I wouldn't have done that with you if I didn't love you." Said Reigen. Did she think that he had only been with her to, what? Because he wanted to have sex? No. She had been the one to convince him. She had practically seduced him. Wow. Mob of all people….

"…I like it when you say that." Said Mob fiddling with the smooth piece of glass in her hand. Reigen reached over and put an arm around her waist.

"You act like I haven't been telling you that I love you for years." Said Reigen. He splayed his fingers out over the curve of her waist. He could span it with both hands. He had spanned it with both hands. Held her close. Moved with her.

"You didn't mean it the way I meant it." Said Mob. Reigen let her go. He had first told her that he loved her four years ago. He didn't mean it like he had last night. But she had. Since she was **fourteen. **The room gets a little smaller.

"Mast-Arataka? You're sharing your feelings with me. Why are you…am I making you feel bad? What did I do?" asked Mob, her voice breaking. She always messed up, didn't she? She hadn't even been in a relationship for more than one day and she had already made him sad. No, he wasn't sharing sadness with him. Fear? Worry?

"Mob…this is…this is going to take some getting used to." Said Reigen. Afterglow aside, and boy was it an afterglow, this was still Mob. This was still…but it wasn't. She wasn't a kid anymore. She had made that abundantly clear last night. She had offered herself to him and he had taken her. She had made him promises and he had made them right back.

There was no going back from this.

"In a bad way?" asked Mob softly. He sat up and pulled her close. His bare chest against her bare back. Bodies told stories. His must have. Hers, not so much. He knew that he must have left a mark last night but her skin was right back to its usual porcelain. Pale, milky white, and free of any scars or blemishes.

"No, it's still just a little weird for me." Said Reigen. Mob nodded. She had her perfect happy ending but it was different for him. He hadn't been dreaming of this for years. He hadn't even thought about her like this until she had confessed to him. He wasn't ever going to lie to her again so he must have been ok.

"I kind of understand. I mean, you weren't wanting this for as long as I have. I'm happy, though, because I really want us to be a couple." Said Mob. She leaned back into his chest. She used her powers to hold up the blanket, for a moment, before letting it fall. She shouldn't be embarrassed. He had done more than see her naked last night.

"We are a couple." Said Reigen after a moment. The weirdness will fade, right? After a while, he thought. After the new Mob, the Mob who existed in reality, eclipsed the old Mob in his mind. When the mental picture aged as she did. When he could fully put away Mob the student and replace her with Mob the…lover? Girlfriend?...Future wife?

Love of his life.

"…I know…I know and I'm so…I'm so happy." Said Mob. She was crying, just a little, which in turn made Reigen cry. He got up and scooted so that he was next to her. He resisted the urge to pull the blanket along with him. Mob had done more than see him naked last night. At this point it would have been more weird if he had covered up. Huh. He hadn't been nervous about a woman seeing him naked since the first time he had ever been naked with a girl. Mob could make him nervous. She could also make him feel happy, sad, elated, and terrified. She made him feel everything.

This was weird but it was also right.

"I know you are, Mob, I know. I am too, believe me. Remember what I said before? I will never lie to you again." Said Reigen falling back into their old patterns. Him reassuring her. Mob smiled, just a little smile. She dragged her thumb across the glass in her hand. She knew when she had done this. Her toes curled as she remembered the way he pressed his weight down onto her. The angle of his hips, the feel of his hands on her thighs and –oh! He was kissing her again.

"Mob, you're a horny little brat, you know that?" asked Reigen mirthfully. That was something he had known for years but never wanted to acknowledge. They had shared this room for years after all. He could feel her feelings and he knew where her mind went. She had shrugged those feelings of for years. She was young, she couldn't help it, he told himself time after time. He ignored the way her eyes would linger on him. The way she would always cuddle up to him. The times she would come home at midnight in a daze like she was sleepwalking. Eyes glassy and far away, small smile on her face.

This would also take some getting used to.

No sake on his system now. This was sober Reigen. Sober and bathed in the light of day. The mirror was shattered into a million little pieces. He didn't know how they looked in the light of day. Master and student. Friend and friend. Friends to lovers.

"I didn't think that you minded, Arataka." Said Mob softly. She knew him well enough to know when he was kidding. He had not been passive there, not at all. He had known what to do and where and how. Better than she had ever had before, not that she was thinking about those times. No. Now she had knew times to think about.

"I don't mind. It'll take some getting used to but I don't mind." Said Reigen. It had felt right, with Mob. She had wanted him and wanted him without pretext. No pretext and no performance. No dirty talk. No carefully curated moans and gasps. Honestly, sometimes it felt like he and whoever he was with was working from a fucking script. She had been artless in her desire. Her kisses, her touches, her words, her sounds. She didn't care how it sounded. She didn't care how it looked. She just went with it.

She was a genuine person. He liked that about her. He loved that about her. She accepted him genuinely.

"Do you want to…get used to it?" asked Mob looking at him sideways. It had been a while for her, not counting last night. She didn't know what was with her. It was like one day she had just been turned on and stayed that way. Sometimes it got worse than other times but it had been pretty much constant. Now she could do something about it, though.

The object of her affections was there, now, and he was for her. He was there and she was there and this time there wasn't a single layer of cloth between them. If he wanted to he could pushed her down and kiss her. She'd let him. She'd pull him between her legs and let him-

"Mob, neither of us has brushed their teeth yet and we're covered in stale sweat and various others, uh, dried fluids." Said Reigen. He could still taste her and he didn't imagine that it would be something she'd enjoy tasting.

"I'm sticky." Said Mob shifting in bed, their bed.

"You want to shower first?" asked Reigen. He needed a cigarette before anything. It was early. He stretched a little. Sore back. Sore shoulders. His bed was not built for two. He should get a bed built for two. Or a futon. Yeah, he can learn to sleep on a futon for her.

"No, you can go first. You don't take as long." Said Mob. She stretched out, too, a little. He reached over and rubbed her shoulders. She melted back into him.

"We need a bigger bed." Said Reigen as he worked the knots of out her shoulders and back. Mob closed her eyes and nodded.

"We could put your mattress on the floor next to my futon." Said Mob. She didn't much care for western beds. As a child she had made the bed float and flip so she had just been given a futon. That was all she was used to.

"I could just get a really big futon for the both of us." Said Reigen as he felt her relax. She was happy, then. So happy, so relaxed, and all for him. Mob shook her head.

"That'll be expensive, Master." Said Mob. She felt him stop breathing and stiffen next to her.

"Mob, don't call me-" said Reigen. That was just too weird. She wasn't that kid anymore and he wasn't that man to her anymore. No going back.

"I know, I'm sorry. I've called you nothing else for years, Arataka." Said Mob. She felt him relax. It wasn't weird for her, not really, because she had been in love with him back when he was Master Reigen. To her he would always be Master Reigen. She knew that they could never go back to being Master Reigen and she could never go back to being his student. She was an adult now and she needed to remember that. They were equal now.

"It's fine. I guess you have a few things to get used to, too." Said Reigen. He could hear her voice when she called him Master and it just sounded too young. It's less weird if he doesn't think about it, about her past, their past. He needed to focus on their future.

"Yeah, a few." Said Mob. Arataka. She had said his name before. Spoke it. Moaned it. Begged it. Screamed it. She blushed. She had been loud, much too loud. Her powers…she had broken everything. She looked around. She hadn't lost control this badly during since…had she ever?

"What's that you've got there?" asked Reigen, his hand reaching down to hers. She opened her hand and showed him the glass.

"The mirror. I broke it pretty badly." Said Mob. Reigen put his hand over hers and felt the smoothness of the glass. It was nice, like a piece of sea glass. Like the time they went to the seaside and collected an entire shoebox full of sea glass. They had put it somewhere in the office when they got back. She had been so small, then, but she wasn't small anymore.

"You can put it back together, I've seen you fix glass before." Said Reigen. Mob nodded. The piece of glass flew from her hand and into the mirror frame. She hung it back up and tried her best to get the smoothened pieces of glass back into the frame like puzzle pieces. She smoothed the glass together as well as she could. It still had seams.

"Good enough, Mob, good enough. Anymore broken glass on the ground?" asked Reigen. He could really use that shower now. They still had to start their day. Serizawa was a good guy but he couldn't open the office and manage it by himself. Serizawa.

They had to tell people.

He'd cross those bridges when he, when they, came to them.

"No, I got it all." Said Mob. She was putting their clothes back where they belonged, now. She hoped that Master Reigen, that Arataka, didn't have a system for putting his clothes away. She didn't have one. She put her dresser back together and folded her clothes as she hung his clothes back up in his closet. Reigen watched her. He would never get tired of the way she could so easily multitask with her powers.

"I'm going to go shower now, then it can be your turn. Also…how do you feel about heading into work today?" asked Reigen. Maybe they should take the day off. There was no way that this day would just be the same as any other. They would walk through that door not as master and student but as equals. As a couple. As two people who have pledged their lives to each other.

"Feel? I don't mind. I like work, Master. I'm happy, actually, because now that I'm done with school I can come in more." Said Mob. No more tests, no more heavy books, no more of the teacher's dirty looks. School was well and truly out. Well, until she started university. Well, not exactly university. Community college. She hoped that it would be better than this school would be better than it had been in the past.

"You don't feel, you know, different?" asked Reigen. Right, this was Mob. Few real social skills beyond an almost fanatical devotion to politeness. Thank God she was such a sweet girl. She was like a plate of sugar on a hot summer's day. The truth of her charm was in her kindness, he had taught her that and she had used that to make her eclectic collection of friends. Friends who would have to be told. How would she tell them? How would he tell….who did he have to tell? His mother, obviously. His father? No, let him read about it in the society pages. At some point Mob's friends had become his friends. It was nice, in a way.

"No, not really. I'm happier, because I'm finally in a couple with you, but I still feel like me. I'm just a happier me, I guess. The other Shigeko is happy, too. She didn't break everything because she was upset, she was just really happy. You were…you were really good." Said Mob. Really good was an understatement. He had been amazing, the best she had ever had. Not that she had ever had more than one person before him.

"Thanks…you were really good, too, Mob. It's just…Mob I know I asked you this before but what are you going to tell people?" Said Reigen. She had been artless but that had just been so, well, endearing. Perfect. Mob. He wouldn't have had her any other way. He could have her again, couldn't he? He could pick her up and pull her onto his lap. He could kiss her deep. He could kiss her everywhere. He could kiss her anywhere.

"I don't know. I think that we could just be a couple on Friendbook and everyone would know that way. Well, except for Ritsu because he's not on Friendbook and my parents, because we aren't Friendbook friends." Said Mob. She didn't know what he was so worried about. Love was a beautiful thing and people should be happy for them because they had found love together. She was always happy when her friends found love. Tome and Inukawa were finally a couple officially and they had been on and off since middle school. Rei was either Go or Takeshi's girlfriend, she wasn't sure which. There was also Sho and Ritsu. She had been over the moon when her little brother had told her that he had found the person he loved more than anyone else. He had been Rei's boyfriend but he was so unhappy with her that Mob was glad that he had found someone who he loved and who loved him right back. Even though Sho had burned the house down.

"Mob, no. You should at least tell your family in person." Said Reigen. He knew that he would have to call his mom to tell her, or just make the day trip to visit her. Mob was so clueless sometimes. Obviously the fact that you're going to spend your life with the man you moved in when you were fourteen was something that it was best to hear in person. Mob should be the one to tell her family. Not just because of her relation to them but also because, well, she wouldn't care about their reactions. Reigen didn't have the nerve to go up to them and say 'Hi, I'm Reigen Arataka and I'm in love with your teenage daughter.'

"Why? It's not like they can tell me not to be your girlfriend. I haven't lived at home since I was fourteen. I don't even think they like me that much." Said Mob. Her graduation lunch had been quiet. They asked her what she was going to do with her life, she told them that she was going to community school and continue working with Master Reigen. They said things in a tone which she assumed meant disapproval. They ate. She went to work.

"Mob, they love you." Said Reigen. Her mother was the one he had spoken to the most. She may have picked at Mob like nobody's business but she seemed to care, on some level at least. She didn't much seem to like her daughter as a person but she cared at least. Kageyama Hana didn't see Mob the way he saw her. Reigen knew that Mob was more than her powers. She was a sweet, kind girl. She was someone who would march into certain death for the people she loved. She was a genuinely good person and he loved her for it.

"You can love someone but not like them. I love my parents but I don't…I don't like them very much. I don't like how they treat Ritsu, mostly. I don't care how they treat me but I do care about how they make Ritsu feel. He feels…he feels bad. He has to hide so much from them and it's not fair. I don't care how they feel about me. They're scared of me, I know that, and I know that they think that I'm not as good at Ritsu. They never made me hide who I am. I don't care at all what my parents, think, Arataka." Said Mob as she continued to put the room back the way that it was supposed to be. She was repotting the plants now and making them grow again. Reigen gave her hair a reassuring tug.

"So you're just going to go up to them and say 'Hey, Reigen Arataka and I are a couple now. I thought you ought to know.'?" Said Reigen. Mob nodded.

"You're good with words, Arataka. I'll say that. Thank you." Said Mob. That was the best way to say it. Master Reigen thought that this was something that they should know, Mob agreed, and therefore she would just tell them the flat facts of the situation. She wished that Ritsu would just give their parents the flat facts of his situation. His life was his own and he was his own protagonist. He should just tell mom and dad 'I have powers, too, like Shigeko and Sho's my boyfriend. I just thought you ought to know'.

"Just the way I said it?" asked Reigen. He had used plenty of sarcasm. Right. Mob couldn't read tones. Well, it would serve her parents right. They had treated her like crap for her entire life, from what he had been told.

"Yes. They should know so I'll just tell it like it is. I'm not asking permission, I'm just telling them the new situation." Said Mob. She was their daughter so she should tell them that she had found and become a couple with the man she planned to spend the rest of her life with.

"Well, Mob, I wish you the very best." Said Reigen. He was not planning on coming with her to break the news to her parents. He didn't much care for the Kageyamas and he knew that this would end in him either getting his ass kicked or him having to use his powers to calm everyone down. Not a fun time at all.

"Thank you. I don't think it'll be too bad. You're a good person, Master. Besides, it's not like they have power over me." Said Mob. They had no power over her. They had no power to forbid her or command her. She was an adult now. She was the protagonist of her own life.

"Yeah…you're right." Said Reigen. He had no power over Mob, either, and hadn't had power over her in years. Not since she was a kid and she proved that she would walk into battle for him without any thought to his direct orders. He had ordered her to run away the first time they fought Claw. He had ordered her to run away the second time they fought Claw. He had ordered her to run away…pretty much for all of their life and death adventures. She had gotten so strong, over the years. Hell, she had even worn him down and now they were, well, this.

"Even if they did I wouldn't listen. I want to be with you, Arataka. You and nobody else." Said Mob. She had never wanted, well she had, but not perpetuity with, anyone else. She had thought about it with Teru. Back when she and Master Reigen had gone their separate ways. She had imagined a life with him. She would have been Hanazawa Shigeko. She would have lived in his apartment and been his wife. That life had been a dream. Attempting to put details to it was like the times when she would go to the seaside as a child and she tried to draw pictures in the sand. They wouldn't stay put long enough for any kind of details. The wind and water would always sweep the pictures away before she could fill them in.

She could fill in those details with Master Reigen, with Arataka. This apartment, or maybe one just like it but bigger, with a washing machine and a bathtub. Another room, too, because they would need it. She didn't have any plans right now of having a baby but she knew that when she had one it would be with Arataka. She had been dreaming of that life, that husband and wife life, for years. They would cuddle and kiss and reach instrumentality every single day. They would go to work and then come home and just be so happy. Their family would grow and they'd have a baby, a boy, his name would be Shigeo. That was what her parents had wanted to call her if she was a boy. They called her Shigeko because it was close. When she and Arataka had a baby he would be called Shigeo and he would have her powers and she would help him with his powers and Arataka would teach him to be a good person and he would be so much happier in his life than she had ever been. He wouldn't be afraid of himself, not even once.

"Mob, I love you." Said Reigen after a moment. There it was. Devotion. Love. Caring. All the feelings that made up her view of him. She loved him so much and he…he loved her right back.

"I love you, too, Arataka." Said Mob. It felt good, being able to say it and have it heard the way she meant it.

"So…when are you planning on telling them?" asked Reigen. Sooner was better than later, in his opinion. Best to just rip off the Band-Aid before it did that thing where the glue fused to your skin and pulling it off was just the worst thing ever.

"I don't have a specific time planned. Maybe if they call me again. We usually talk on the phone once every week or so." Said Mob. Those were short calls. They asked her about her grades, about how work was going, if she was seeing anyone, things like that. She answered her questions, they talked about some other stuff, nothing that mattered really, and then they hung up.

"That's not really in person, Mob." Said Reigen. Mob nodded. He was right, again. He was good at these social things.

"You're right, Arataka. I'll tell them the next time I see them. Ritsu invites me to dinner a lot. Maybe I should go." Said Mob. She hadn't sat down at the kitchen table in four years. Was her spot still there? Her squeaky chair? Her pink plate and bowl?

"That'd be good, Mob. It's best to get this over with sooner rather than later." Said Reigen. He wondered who would survive world war three in the Kageyama house. Well, hopefully they made it to some kind of armistice before her little brother took it upon himself to find Reigen and kill him. Heh. For all of Mob's little brother's jealousy, anger, and dislike of Reigen he had been right the whole time. Well then.

"When are you going to tell your mom?" asked Mob. She liked Reigen Sophia. She was very nice and had a cat. Maybe they could take a day trip and visit again.

"I…I have no clue. She lives far away, Mob, you know that. It's a day trip to get up there. I should tell her in person, though, you're right." Said Reigen. His relationship with his mother was better than it had been, before. He had grown up, finally. Yeah, mom deserved the news in person. She liked Mob and had been weirdly ok with it when she thought that he and Mob were a couple back when she was fourteen. Dad could suck it, though.

"What about your dad?" asked Mob. She had never met his father, didn't even know his given name. From what she had heard Master Reigen didn't like him very much and didn't talk to that side of his family that often.

"He can find out on Friendbook. I don't care about him." said Reigen. Mob frowned. Reigen watched her. He let himself feel her feelings. She was worried about something. But what? She knew that he and his dad had never gotten along. Hell, he had a little brother he hadn't seen since he was a baby.

"Do you think that our baby will like us?" asked Mob after a moment. Reigen felt his blood run cold.

"Mob, we don't have to worry about that. Remember? Condoms?" asked Reigen. Right. He hadn't gotten her pregnant. He still shouldn't have opened it with his teeth. That had been dumb. Heat of the moment and all that.

"I don't mean now, I mean in the future. Remember? I said that I wanted to have a family with you, and you said that you wanted that with me?" asked Mob. Reigen nodded after a moment. She painted a pretty picture but it wasn't a picture that he was ready to see.

"Not yet, Mob. You haven't even been my…girlfriend…for a day. Let's just slow down for a minute." Said Reigen. He liked the idea of being someone's father. He liked the idea of being that sort of person to a human that he himself made. Any human, actually. He liked the practice, too, but not now. Not when she wasn't even old enough to drink and smoke yet. Not when she wasn't even his wife yet. Yet. She would be, most likely, because he had no plans to break up with her and he…he wasn't opposed to the idea of marriage. Not with Mob, at least.

"Oh. Ok. I just thought that was what coupled people did. We love each other and we'll be together forever, right? When people love each other and decide to be together forever then they get married and have kids. That's why I'm here. My mom says that she had me because that was what you have to do when you get married. Ritsu was an accident. Well, she called him a happy accident. Do you want our kids to be happy accidents?" asked Mob. She knew what she wanted. She wanted a better home than she had growing up. She wouldn't pick at her kids and tell them that one was better than another, even though Ritsu was clearly a better person than she was. She wouldn't ever be afraid of her kids. She would make the atmosphere in her home happy and safe. Why wouldn't it be? She'd be with Arataka?

"Too fast, Mob, too fast." Said Reigen. She was so young. She hadn't given this the proper amount of thought. He remembered being her age. You just wanted to jump into everything with both feet because you couldn't see the bottom. You had no idea what you were really jumping into and you didn't care because you felt ten feet tall and fucking bullet proof. Well, Mob was five feet tall and he had seen her easily deflect bullets. Maybe she was literally invincible. Maybe she could take whatever life through at her. She was strong, stronger than him, but he wasn't strong enough for this. Not yet. He needed more time. He needed time enough to totally erase the Mob who existed in his mind. He needed to erase Mob the student and replace her with the person what she was now.

"Oh. I'm sorry." Said Mob. Second thoughts? Or maybe she did move too fast. She didn't fully get it. Probably because she had loved him for years longer than he had loved her.

"No, it's fine, Mob. Just please don't ask me about kids for at least a year or two. Ok? I've got my mom riding me enough about grandkids. I don't know why, she's only twenty years older than me…anyway. Mob, this isn't the conversation to have right now. Ok?" said Reigen. It may have scared him a little, too, Mob talking about this. Little Mob. His Mob. She asked this of him and he…he'd give her what she wanted. Didn't he always give her what she wanted, in the end? She asked for him, yesterday, and he had given himself.

"Ok. Sorry." Said Mob. Reigen kissed her on the forehead. She could smell herself on him and blushed. Right. Showers. She wanted to have him again but he was right, they were sticky with each other already.

"And stop apologizing all the time. Come on, you aren't a kid anymore." Said Reigen. He heard her again, young Mob. The constant apologizing was young Mob's habit. He needed adult Mob. He needed adult Mob because this was weird enough already.

"Sorry…wait, sorry." Said Mob. Reigen laughed and kissed his way down her shoulder and across her back. She arched into him. He smiled as he kissed her. Mob was not nearly as unexpressive as she people thought. She had always been more expressive for him, anyway.

"I'm going to go take a shower, Mob, ok you horny brat?" said Reigen. Mob smiled and nodded. She had been stubborn brat before. She knew it was a term of endearment. She may have been bad at reading other people but she could read him like a book.

"I'm not…right now." Said Mob. Reigen flipped up her fringe.

"Empath, remember? I know what you're feeling." Said Reigen. Mob smiled and looked away. Well, she was always a little but it wasn't super bad right now. It was his fault, anyway. She was naked, he was naked, and he was right there and he was kissing her and if he wanted to he could have her right there. He could always have her. She had been waiting for so long to have him that she wasn't going to ever deny him. Not when she knew what it was like. What he was like.

"What am I feeling now?" asked Mob. She felt his aura wash over her. She let him into her aura, his custard yellow mixing with her bubblegum pink and cyan blue.

"You love me, you feel sticky, and you're a little chilly." Said Reigen. If he really focused he could feel the ghosts of physical sensations. Mob was the only person he felt that with. He had been hiding in her aura since the day he awakened his powers. Since the day she had poured enough of her power into him to awaken his powers.

"What do you feel right now?" asked Mob. She felt him sharing his feelings with her. He was sticky, kind of tired, his back hurt…those were physical feelings. He loved her. He loved her but he still felt kind of…weird? Weird. But he loved her and that was what mattered.

"I'll leave you some hot water." Said Reigen. He swung his legs over and stepped down. She was still picking up the room. Now she was putting some of their books back together. He stepped out and immediately jumped up with a yelp.

"What happened?! Did I forget some glass?!" said Mob standing up suddenly, the cold air of the room fully hitting her. Reigen hopped around and fell backwards onto the ground.

"Gross! This is so gross! Mob, get the garbage can!" said Reigen as he rubbed his foot on the carpet. Mob called it over, it had wound up in the other room. As she pulled it over with her powers she put the trash back into it, what trash she could feel. See feel. It was like feeling around in the dark, when she used her powers without looking.

"What's wrong?" asked Mob. His face was all scrunched up and he looked like he was about to be motion sick. He wasn't in pain, though, so that was good.

"This is so gross." Said Reigen as she passed him the garbage can. He picked up their condom from last night and tossed it in, quickly. Mob blushed and laughed, just a little. That breathy little laugh she did sometimes. She rarely laughed out loud, only when something was particularly funny. This was just a little funny, just a little. His grossed out face was…cute.

"It's yours." Said Mob with a little laugh. Reigen stood up.

"That doesn't make it any less gross. I think I can feel them swimming." Said Reigen. Now Mob laughed out loud. Reigen pulled her hair, slightly.

"Brat." Said Reigen clearly kidding. She smiled. He wanted to kiss her so badly right then. Her eyes were bright and awake. She was smiling for real, now. He absolutely loved her when she smiled. He didn't kiss her, though, because as much as he loved spending time with her he was still naked, covered in various fluids, and hadn't even brushed his teeth yet. Still, though. He could kiss her, now. He didn't know when he had started to want to kiss her, he knew that there were plenty of times when she was younger that he had come close. He could kiss her, now, and he wanted to. It needed to be good, though. Mob deserved that.

"I know." Said Mob smiling. She knew that he wasn't being mean. He would never be mean to her. He was nice. She wanted to see how nice he could be. She took his hand. Her hand used to be able fit inside of his easily. She splayed her fingers out around his. Her hand was almost as big as his, now. He laced his fingers in hers.

"Mob, later." Said Reigen. Were those his feelings? Hers? A combination of theirs. Reigen knew this part of the relationship. He hadn't been in a real relationship since he was in university. He remembered it, though. The beginning spent together all the time, usually in bed or trying to get to one. It cooled off, it always did. He hoped that it didn't with Mob.

"When later?" asked Mob. She couldn't help it. He was naked, she was naked, and she could finally have him.

"After work, later." Said Reigen. They still had a business to run. He looked around for the little clock. They had to get to work soon if they still wanted to have a business to run. Serizawa was a good guy but he could not be in charge for very long. Not after the incident.

"Or at work." Said Mob softly. She knew why he had sent her away, during the day, when she was a kid. She knew exactly what else that massage table could be used for. Or the office couch. Or his desk.

"Mob, we have clients." Said Reigen. Right. Back, years ago, he had sent Mob out of the office so that he could…yeah. That was not good.

"Not all the time." Said Mob. Why not her? She was an adult and she was in a couple with him.

"Serizawa's there." Said Reigen. Crap. What were they going to tell Serizawa? That guy did not deal well with change, or anything, really. No, that was mean. His coping skills had gotten somewhat better over the years.

"Send him to the store." Said Mob. He was her, now, anyway. She was like Master Reigen, no, like Arataka.

"So that's what this is about." Said Reigen with a sigh. He had apologized and apologized for that. He was young, he had been stupid.

"Maybe." Said Mob simply. Maybe she was still a little jealous. Maybe she just fully didn't believe that she had him, yet. Maybe this was all too good to be true and she'd wake up down on her futon and it would all have been a super vivid dream.

"You're jealous again." Said Reigen stating a fact. She was a jealous little brat, sometimes, and he meant that in a nice way. If she hadn't been jealous, before, she never would have vowed to improve herself and set off the chain of events that let them to where they were today.

"You're using your powers." Said Mob stating a fact. She had been the one to awake his powers. She wondered why he got such different ones from her. Maybe it was just his natural affinity for communicating with people.

"No, I'm not. I don't need them to read you." Said Reigen. This was Mob. He had known her for seven years. He could read her like a book.

"Ok, fine, I am jealous." Said Mob. There was no maybe to it. She didn't like the idea that he had been with other people. She didn't like that she had so much to live up to. She wanted to erase the memory of everyone that he had ever been with.

"Don't be. I'm here for you. I love you." Said Reigen with a sigh. Poor kid. She had to get over this jealousy, though.

"Say it again." Said Mob, smiling. She loved it when he said it. Reigen indulged her.

"I love you, Mob." Said Reigen taking both of her hands in his.

"Say it in English." Said Mob smiling a little more. Reigen rolled his eyes.

"_I love you, Mob."_ Said Reigen. Mob nodded. Her name sounded weird in English. Both of her names did.

"Now say it in Mandarin." Said Mob. He could read her like a book. Now she was being a silly brat. He'd take a silly brat above a jealous one. He loved this silly, jealous, little brat.

"As soon as I learn Mandarin then I'll say it in Chinese, ok?" asked Reigen

"You'll learn Chinese just to learn to say that you love me?" asked Mob. If he was serious then that would be amazing. She wanted to hear it in every language there was, even the one she and Ritsu made up when they were little.

"You know I'd do anything for you." Said Reigen. He would do anything for her and he had done anything for her. He had walked into certain death thrice for her. The last time had been to save her from herself. He would face down anything, including her, to save her.

"Same, Arataka." Said Mob. She had faced down certain death for him on more than one occasion. She had even conquered, briefly her other half to save him. She had even merged with her other self to destroy Mogami down to the particle layer to keep him safe.

"Then stop being so jealous, Mob." Said Reigen. She knew what she meant to him. Nobody before her meant anything to him, even when he had been in love. The past was in the past. This today, this new endless today, belonged to her and her alone.

"It's not only jealousy." Said Mob. She felt a lot of things for him. She wanted him and nobody else. She wanted him to want her and nobody else. She was possessive of him, too. She had always been. She wouldn't lose him to harm or death or someone else or giant stalks of broccoli. He was hers and she was his.

"Stop being such a little horn dog then." Said Reigen. He remembered what it was like to be young. Right. She's expect him to keep up with her. Wait, no, he wasn't that old. He was talking like he was middle aged. He was thirty-two. Of course he would be able to keep up with her.

"…I can't help it. It's you." Said Mob with a blush. She had been dreaming of him for years, excuse her for wanted to play with her toys on Christmas morning.

"Mob, I love you so damn much, but we've got a day to start." Said Reigen. The longer he stayed near her the longer he felt like just saying 'fuck it' and tossing her down onto the bed, their bed. No. Serizawa could not be in charge again. Not after the last time.

"Yes Mast-Arataka." Said Mob. She loved her job. She had people to help and she knew that Serizawa couldn't be in charge for very long. He was still kind of bad with people and was too nice sometimes, and that was coming from her. Then again…she looked Master Reigen up and down….Ritsu didn't have school and he would help out if she asked…

But then she would have to tell Ritsu why he needed to fill in for her and Master Reigen.

Ritsu would not be happy about the reason and she…she didn't want to get into it with him right then.

She would have to, though. Master Reigen was right. She would have to get into it with a lot of people. Ritsu. Mom and Dad. Teru…yeah that last one would not be fun. None of it would be fun. No, but she would have to do it.

She looked over at the clock. Well, she was going to work so the first person she would have to tell Serizawa. That would be easy. He was such a nice person. An anxious person but still a nice one.

One person at a time.


	2. Serizawa Ought to Know

Telling Serizawa is easy. Just one sentence, just one, and he knows. Mob figured that he would be happy for them. He was a good friend like that.

"Oh, Serizawa. Arataka and I are a couple know. I just thought you ought to know." Said Mob the minute she sat down at her desk. Serizawa had gotten in first and was waiting for them. He seemed pretty happy, actually, when she came in. Serizawa always smiled when she and Master Reigen came in to start the day.

"Oh….that's great! I'm so happy for the two of you!" said Serizawa after a moment. Just because Mob couldn't read social cues to save her life didn't mean that Reigen couldn't. He tended to keep his aura close when he was around espers. They tended to be much louder than normal people. Serizawa was powerful so he practically screamed his emotions. Reigen didn't have to use his powers then. No. Serizawa's emotions were written all over his face. His actions too. He called his umbrella to his hand. He only did that when something was making him anxious.

"Thank you. I'm happy that you're happy." Said Mob. She meant it, too. She liked it when her friends were happy. She couldn't read the face he was making but she did see him reach for his umbrella. It must have been the change that got him feeling bad. He didn't deal well with big changes, they set off his anxiety.

Reigen knows better. Reigen doesn't need his powers to see that something is most definitely up with Serizawa. But what? The change, obviously. Serizawa was a creature of habit. Spending twelve years locked in your bedroom will do that to a person. Reigen cheats a little and let's himself perceive, briefly, what the people around him are feeling. He focuses on the two loudest people near him, Mob and Serizawa. Mob is genuinely happy. She's happy and in love and wants physical intimacy. Normal for her. He's felt her emotions for a while now and he seems to have put her in a constant state of happiness. Good.

Serizawa is all over the place. Hurt. Pain. Embarrassment. Anger at himself. Anger at Mob. Anger at Reigen. Self-disgust. Self-pity. There are positive emotions, too. Happiness directed at Mob. Reverence towards her, but that's normal. Caring. Concern. Normal feelings for when he's near Mob. Oh. Reigen felt something else, too. Butterflies. Nervousness. Self-consciousness. Reigen had always shrugged off those feelings, or assumed that the butterflies and all of that was just Mob. She felt that way and had for a while, since she was fourteen. Well, he knew the reason for that, now. Mob had been harboring a crush for years.

He wasn't picking apart Mob's feelings, now. No, these were Serizawa's. The man himself was…distracted. Reigen watched his aura, his iron tight grip on his umbrella. Serizawa was trying to keep it together. Mob was oblivious.

Serizawa is staring at Mob. Mob is staring at Reigen. Reigen is staring at Serizawa.

"Hey, Mob." Said Reigen. Mob blinked. She had been watching Master Reigen, no, Arataka. He was thinking really hard about something. She liked watching him when he didn't know that he was watching her. His face was unguarded. She saw his aura, too. Custard yellow. His aura is more out, now. He usually held it so close, like the way he held playing cards on the slow days when nobody came in and everyone was bored.

"Yes, Arataka?" asked Mob. She keeps her eyes on him. She'll do whatever it is that he asks of her. It's early. Did someone schedule an exorcism? Maybe he wants her to go with Serizawa to deal with it. He's not totally ready to go off on his own. Not on days when he's holding onto his umbrella, anyway.

"We're running low on jasmine incense. Can you head out to the spiritual store and pick up a pack of the sticks?" asked Reigen. He needed her out of the office for this talk. They didn't have anything scheduled for a while. Usually it was massages this early in the day, or walk-ins. The work day was going to be hell unless he got Serizawa sorted.

"Do you want me to just order some on Amazon? It's cheaper." Said Mob. That's where the usually got their incense from. They ordered it from China, before, when they were short on money. They had more money now but that didn't mean that they should go throwing their money away.

"No, there's no time. I'd rather just send you to the store than pay for same day shipping." Said Reigen. She'd be held up at the store for a while. It was run by a couple of sweet old ladies and they, like all sweet old ladies, loved Mob. Such a lovely young lady, they'd say.

"Yes, Master." Said Mob. She always got held up at that store. The ladies there were super nice but always spent a while asking her about her life and telling her about the good old days and the good current days. Well, if this was what Master Reigen needed her to do then that was what she would do.

"Bring back some drinks, too!" said Reigen as she left. He could really use a nice, cold, soda right about then. He swallowed. Right. Nervous. This was not the talk that he wanted to have. A cup of warm tea was placed in front of him.

"Here you go, Master Reigen." Said Serizawa. He was still gripping his umbrella in his other hand. Reigen met his eyes. Serizawa began to sweat under the eye contact.

"Serizawa, pull up a chair. We need to talk." Said Reigen. A drink in hand, a desk between them, and he initiated the conversation. Good. The ball was in his court.

"Yes, Master." Said Serizawa. He used his powers to pull up a chair and pour himself a cup of tea. He shrank under Master Reigen's gaze. For a moment he feared that Reigen had developed telepathy. He didn't need it, though, did he? He could sense emotions. He could sense the emotions that Serizawa was trying to keep a lid on.

"So, how are you?" asked Reigen. Serizawa pulled away from his gaze. Reigen could feel the air around them taking on a sort of static electricity. Reigen projected calm emotions as best as he could. Serizawa let him in, relaxing, slowly.

"I'm just having a…day, Master. Just a day." Said Serizawa. A day was their word for when he got anxious. For when they needed to help him calm down.

"Because of me and Mob." Said Reigen stating a fact. This was a lot to unpack. Reigen hoped that Serizawa was just upset by the change in the office dynamic. That would have just been Reigen being willfully blind. He had been willfully blind for years. He had ignored the way that Mob had looked at him, the way she had felt about him, for years. He had ignored the way that he himself had felt about Mob. He had ignored the way that…others…had felt about Mob, too.

"It's just something new to get used to, that's all." Said Serizawa. This was a big change. Mob had always been Master Kageyama to him and Reigen had always been Master Reigen. She had always been above him, unattainable. One did not harbor feelings for their seniors at work and one certainly didn't harbor feelings for someone so much younger than them.

"It is. It's something new for all of us. You can talk to me if you need to, Serizawa." Said Reigen. He could feel a tap of jealousy. Not a stab, just a tap. Good. Easier to deal with. He had felt stabs of jealousy, before, but not from Serizawa. Back when Mob had been going out with Teru Reigen had to deal with the near constant stab of jealousy. Of course Teru had been right to feel like that, all things considered.

"I know, Master Reigen, but I'll be fine." Said Serizawa. He needed to keep it together. He wasn't that man anymore. He wasn't going to go hiding in his bedroom. He wasn't going to hide under his umbrella, either.

"Are you sure? Serizawa, I know how you feel." Said Reigen watching the clock. He needed to get this sorted before the work day well and truly started.

"I'm just a little anxious, that's all." Said Serizawa. He tried to squish down how he felt. How much it hurt. It did hurt, it really did. Without Master Reigen keeping him calm it would have hurt even more. Maybe even causing an explosion. He had never felt hurt like this, before.

"Serizawa. I. Know. How. You. Feel." Said Reigen punctuating each word for emphasis. No beating around the bush. They had to get to it. No. He needed to stay calm. So Serizawa had been harboring feelings for Mob. So he was even older than Reigen himself. Reigen needed to have some empathy. Mob was…amazing. She was the sweetest, kindest, human being he had ever met. She was someone who had all the power in the world and chose to use it for good. She was someone who seemed an island of goodness in the cruel sea that was the world. She was a lighthouse in a world of darkness. She could draw you in like a moth to a flame and before you even realize it you'll be enthralled in her. Enraptured. You'll find yourself mired in her and you'll love it.

Reigen couldn't fault Serizawa for drowning. Reigen himself had drowned, after all. He had drowned at some point and hadn't realized it. He needed to have some empathy for Serizawa, here, and not throw stones. How could he? At least Serizawa wasn't lying to himself.

"I feel….I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't. She's my superior." Said Serizawa. Age was weird. He hadn't been around people for twelve years. When he had rejoined the world he had been fully at the president's side. He didn't know any girls. There weren't any in the Ultimate Five, either. The first thing he had done, when he realized that he had feelings for her, was to Google. It hadn't been illegal but the internet had said that the rule was half his age plus seven. The internet had also said that work relationships were a bad idea if you worked closely. She had been in a relationship then, anyway. He had considered confessing to her when she and her boyfriend had broken up but had been too afraid. Reigen, apparently, did.

"And eighteen." Said Reigen dryly. Age was weird. What was legal wasn't always right. That was why he had always dismissed his growing feelings for Mob. She had just been too damned young.

"She's younger than me, too." Said Serizawa. Eighteen was a full adult but he was thirty four. That was still outside of the half your age plus seven rule. She was outside of Reigen's range, too, but that hadn't stopped him. Maybe Reigen was just a better man than he was. He was more together. He was great at being social with others and never got anxious. He always ran to her, too. Reigen had run to her during the battle against Toichiro. Reigen had run to her, too, when the other half of her took over on that awful day. What had Serizawa done? He had run away. No wonder she had chosen Reigen.

"How long?" asked Reigen after a moment. He reminded himself that he couldn't fault Serizawa for this. She was Mob. She was wonderful. She was so damned easy to love. She had this way of looking at you like you were the only person in the world. When she decided that you were someone she cared for she would lay down her life for you. She was just so damned easy to love.

"Since when?" asked Serizawa genuinely not getting it.

"Since you knew." Said Reigen. How long had it been for Serizawa? If Reigen had to put a date on it he would say the second time they fought Claw. That was when he had the first inklings of feelings for Mob. Maybe even before that.

"Since I met her." Said Serizawa quietly. He knew when she threw his energy back at him. He had seen her, all of her, when she had done that. Her entire life flashed before his eyes. He saw the pain she had gone through. He saw how similar they were. The way that she had been afraid of herself, too. The pain that she had felt. Even the six months that weren't, as she called him. For the first time in his life he had met a true kindred spirit.

"What….?" Asked Reigen. Now it was his turn to keep it together. He had to. She hadn't even been fifteen when they had fought Claw for the second time. He remembered that day, it haunted his nightmares, sometimes. The way she disappeared in that energy blast. Her sailing naked through the air and into a building. Her exploding from that building in a burst of white light. Her dressed in that wedding dress, the white ribbons in her hair, calling out that madman. The final light slowly enveloping the city like the end of Akira. His fear that it was the end of Akira and that she would be gone, the drop of star shine that she was absorbed into the vast expanse of the universe. That was the day he knew, for a fact, that he loved Shigeko, that he loved Mob, in every way that one person could love another. Serizawa had, apparently, also come to the same conclusion.

"She shared her energy with me, that day. I knew that she was like me. Then she stood up to the president and defeated him. I knew. I didn't say anything, though! I knew that it would have been wrong. Google said so. She's outside the half my age plus seven range. I still would never say anything. I know that she's yours and I truly am happy for you two. I'm happy that she's happy and I'm happy that you're happy, too, Master Reigen." Said Serizawa. He meant it. These were the two people he cared about most in the world and he did want them to be happy. It was a mixed sort of happiness. Bittersweet, like a bar of dark chocolate.

"I…I know you are, Serizawa. I know you are." Said Reigen after taking a calming sip of tea. Yuck. Too weak. Mob didn't make this. Reigen let's himself calm down. Serizawa is staring at him in that Mob 'I'm looking at everything and nothing' sort of way. They're pretty similar, the two of them. A part of Reigen, a part that he doesn't like to acknowledge, is thankful that Serizawa didn't say a thing to Mob. Would she have had him? He understood her on a level that Reigen knew he couldn't. No matter how many times he had gotten down to her level and told her, over and over again, that there was nothing wrong with her. That she was human the same as everyone else. Reigen had said that to assuage her. To make her feel better. The truth was that there were very few other human beings like her, human beings that knew what it was to hold that kind of uncontrollable power in their hands. To have what was essentially a God within in. Serizawa knew, somewhat, not that Reigen had ever seen the upper limits of his power like he had seen Mob's. Serizawa had been in the same boat Mob was, growing up. They had both hurt people accidentally, both shut themselves off from others, and both ended up being used by people who only saw them for what they could do, not who they were. Not that Reigen was ever going to go back to that. He would never use her as a meal ticket ever again.

"Are you mad at me?" asked Serizawa quietly. He was sailing through uncharted waters. No, he was rowing through them with one oar and no compass. He had never in his life had to tell his boss, mentor, and honestly best friend that they both had feelings for the same girl. Hell, he had never been in the position to tell anyone that he had feelings for any girl. Why did it have to be her? She was just so…like him. She understood. Reigen was probably mad at him. He was happy for them, though, honestly.

"No, not at all. Mob's an amazing person. Of course someone else would…care for her. I know you're happy for her, though. I'm glad you're handling this so maturely, Serizawa." Said Reigen. Don't throw stones, Arataka. You have absolutely no right to go around throwing stones. At least Serizawa is being more mature than you were. At least he acknowledged how he felt, he didn't ignore it for God knows how long. Mob chose you, anyway, so don't feel like. Don't drive yourself insane thinking of what could have been.

"Thank you, Master Reigen." Said Serizawa. So he wasn't mad. Good. He wanted to ask, though, why they had gotten together now. Reigen had never given any indication that he felt that way about her, too. Well, he had touched her a lot. He always had a hand on her back or her shoulder or in her hair. They had been living together for a while, too. At first, when they had met for the very first time, he had thought that she and Reigen were a couple. That hadn't lasted long. What had that blonde kid, Teru said?

"_I've got her. She's MY girlfriend."_

He had said that when Reigen had come back from the newly built city with her in his arms. She looked like an angel, then. Well, a dead angel, which was something poetically beautiful, in that white dress thing she was wearing. He knew she hadn't been dead. Her aura was still there, just incredibly faint. Reigen's had been covering the two of them, no, not covering. He noticed that pretty early on that his aura could merge with hers. Serizawa wasn't too proud to admit that he had stared up at the ceiling many a night wondering what it felt like. Maybe like instrumentality. She liked Eva and he had heard her use that term, before. Yes, of course. It had always been and would always be Reigen. He was alright with this. He had to be.

"You can just call me Reigen." Said Reigen with a shrug. If Mob wasn't going to call him Master anymore then Serizawa could finally start calling him just Reigen. Family name, not first name. That was Mob's and Mob's alone. Well, and his mother's, he guessed, she had been the one to give it to him. He was ready to stop being Master Reigen, now. That man was….he wasn't that man anymore. He didn't need someone calling him Master, looking at him like he was the answer to all of their hopes and dreams, to feel like somebody. He was somebody. He was Reigen Arataka.

"But that's too familiar!" said Serizawa. He had never called anyone by just their family name, even the esper kids.

"Serizawa, we've known each other for almost four years now. It's fine. You don't have to call Mob Master Kageyama anymore, either." Said Reigen. Mob said, years ago, that it felt weird being called Master Kageyama. Reigen dismissed her because, well, she was master to Serizawa. They were adorable, actually, when they were just starting out. Serizawa looked at Mob the same way that Mob had always looked at him. Same way. Oh.

"Master…Reigen...then?" asked Serizawa. Reigen was about to say that he had just told Serizawa not to call him Master Reigen anymore when realization dawned on him. Reigen Shigeko. Reigen Mob. Not yet. Too much. Too much too soon.

"What?! No, not yet! Serizawa, we just started going out yesterday!" said Reigen. Serizawa looked down. He hadn't meant anything by it, he just figured that they'd be getting married soon since they were a couple now. That was the natural course of events, right? You found a girl, married her, had a baby, and then your mother stopped saying 'Katsuya, you should really go out and meet a woman.'

"Oh. Sorry. I had just figured…." Said Serizawa. Reigen wanted to bang his head onto his desk. He loved Mob. He loved her and he was ready to acknowledge that. He was ready to give her perpetuity and had been for years. Marriage, a family, those adult things that came with it could wait. He still needed to get used to this before he went any further, like getting used to a swimming pool before you actually started, well swimming.

"Just call her Mob, or Shigeko…not wait, don't. She says that the other Shigeko thinks people are talking to her when she's, when they're, addressed as Shigeko. Or just ask her when she gets back." Said Reigen. Serizawa tensed at the mention of the other Shigeko. Reigen didn't blame him. That…thing…was a God. He didn't like to think about it like that but it was a God that Mob had to keep under control. It didn't just destroy, it could also build. It could create. It could even heal decades old scars and who knew what else. He accepted Mob, though, for all that she was. He had to.

"Right…when she comes back..." Said Serizawa. He would have to face her after getting everything out in the open with Reigen. Would he say something to her? He'd die. Serizawa would drop dead from embarrassment right then and there if Reigen said anything to her.

"I won't say a word to her." Said Reigen. Mob probably wouldn't mind. This was Mob. She'd probably just apologize for not returning his feelings and then go about her day under a cloud of guilt. She wouldn't just go off and say 'Sorry Master Reigen but I like him better now.' No, and Reigen was crazy for even allowing that thought to enter his mind.

"Thank you Mast-, thank you Reigen." Said Serizawa. That felt weird, like they were equals. How could they be? Reigen was so much more together. He always knew just what to do, had perfect control over his powers, and was better at being an adult than Serizawa was. How could they be equals? Well, if this was what Reigen wanted then Serizawa would go along with it.

"You're welcome. Do you want the day off, today?" asked Reigen. Mob was oblivious to any and all awkward situations. He wasn't. Besides, Reigen had felt the bitter sting of romantic rejection many times in his life and he knew that the best thing for it was total isolation until it passed. Don't even look at her, don't talk to her. That was the best that he could do for it, really, in the past.

"No! I mean, you don't have to kick me out or anything." Said Serizawa. He wouldn't be weird. He felt good for them, really, he did.

"No, I'm not kicking you out at all. I just thought that you might need some time to, you know, come to terms." Said Reigen. Espers were loud, so much louder than regular people. He didn't want to feel the hurt coming from Serizawa, and the man was hurt. A day or two should have set him straight. Then everything could go back to as close to normal and they could manage.

"I…I think that would be good. Thank you M-thank you, Reigen." Said Serizawa. A day in front of the TV or hiding under his blankets would be good. He was holding onto his umbrella, after all. Then he could come back in tomorrow when all of these bad feelings had passed. Reigen always knew just what to do.

"You're welcome. See you tomorrow, or the next day. Take as long as you need." Said Reigen as Serizawa got up. He carried that static energy with him as he left. Reigen pulled out a cigarette and lit it. He needed a smoke. Well, that hadn't been nearly as awkward and it could have been. Serizawa had feelings for Mob. Mob when she was little. Reigen knew not to throw stones. He had those same feelings for Mob, back then, he just ignored them for years and years.

Well, this wasn't so bad.

He felt Mob's aura as she came up the stairs. She seemed fine.

"You're going? Wait, here. I got you your favorite." He heard Mob's voice carrying up the stairs and the rustling of a plastic bag. Then more footsteps and the door opened.

"Hey Mob. How was the store?" asked Reigen as he ashed his cigarette. Mob put her purchases down on his desk and stood in front of him.

"I think that those ladies are lonely, they mostly told me about how their kids never call. Maybe I should call my parents. Ritsu is always inviting me to dinner, maybe I should go." Said Mob. She didn't much like her parents but they were the only parents she had so she should be nicer to them and visit. Ritsu said that they wanted her around more and he wouldn't lie to her.

"That'd be a good idea. Maybe you could tell them about…how things are now. It's best to do these things over dinner. A table between you too, a drink and some food so there's something to do with your hands to fill up the white space in the conversation…." Said Reigen. A can of coffee was taken out of the bag and put in front of him.

"That's a good idea, Master. I mean Arataka. I think I should tell Ritsu separately, though, because I think he might be mad at me. I don't know why he doesn't like you but he doesn't." said Mob as she used her powers to pull up her chair. She opened up her milk and took a sip.

"I slept with his sister." Said Reigen simply. The kid had been right from the beginning. He had been using Mob when he first met her, he had been way too close to her when she got older, and now he was in a relationship with her and all that came with it.

"Arataka!" said Mob coming dangerously close to spitting out the precious milk. She turned red. She knew they had slept together. She had been there. It had been her idea.

"What? I did and he's probably going to be beyond pissed." Said Reigen

"Why? I love you and you love me. It's not a bad thing, what we did. We both wanted to and it felt amazing. Not that I would tell Ritsu about that. I don't want to know about what he and Sho do and he probably doesn't want to know what you and I do." Said Mob. She honestly did not get it. How could anyone dislike Arataka? He was a wonderful person.

"It's the age thing, Mob. It's always going to come back up. I told you how bad this looks. I mean, I knew you when you were eleven." Said Reigen. He motioned to the corkboard covered in various pictures of the two of them. At the center is a picture of them from their first job. She's tiny, beside him. He looks younger, too. Definitely thinner.

"But I'm not eleven anymore. I'm eighteen and I'm old enough to make my own choices and I choose you." Said Mob. She still didn't get it. Ritsu was her brother and he should be happy for her. She was happy when he and Sho had gotten together even though Ritsu had broken Rei's heart and Sho had been the one to burn the house down.

"Mob, there's no way that it's going to be a good conversation between you and him. Just…remember that. Mob there are always going to be people who can only see what it was before." Said Reigen. Ritsu would probably beat him, that was a given. Then her parents would beat him up. Then he'd be shunned from society. No, wait, that last one was too far.

"Ritsu is my brother and when he realizes how happy you make me then he'll be happy for me, for us. Ritsu is a good person like that." Said Mob. Ritsu could be kind of stubborn but he was smart and nice and stuff. He would understand. After all, he did owe her. She had kept her mouth shut to mom and dad for years about him and Sho and she had accepted Sho even though it took her a while to actually like him.

"Yeah, Mob, he's a good person…" said Reigen. That was not going to go well at all. He didn't need powers of clairvoyance to see that.


	3. Ritsu Ought To Know

Telling Ritsu was not going to be easy. Mob knew this to be a fact. Yesterday she had told Serizawa and today she was going to tell Ritsu. He was her little brother and he deserved to find out in person. Master Reigen said so and he was good at people stuff. That was what lead her to the cheapest all you can eat sushi buffet in Seasoning City on her lunch break. Not that she usually got a lunchbreak. Today she did. She had something important to do. Serizawa was filling in for her while she was out, too, so that she could take all the time she needed. He was acting weird today, though. He was making an effort not to look at her. Had she done something to offend him?

He had been weird yesterday, too, when they had passed on the stairs. He was had his umbrella opened, which meant that something was setting off his anxiety. He hadn't been able to look at her then, too. He had rushed past her and almost didn't take the soda she had gotten him, and it was his favorite. People were complicated. Thank goodness that Master Reigen, Arataka, had given her some pointers for delivering big news.

This was a public place, so then everyone was less likely to make a scene. Not that Ritsu had ever caused a scene, before. Ok, he had, actually. Like the time when they went out for dinner when he had gotten the highest score in the city on his entrance exams and Sho had dipped his fingers into all of Ritsu's food to be funny. Or the time when he tried to break up with Rei and yelled really loud that he didn't like girls at all and everyone stared at him. Or the time when he walked in on her and Teru and then he ran outside and made himself throw up. That had been a little too dramatic, actually, and also just because he had a spare key to Teru's apartment didn't mean that he got to let himself in even if he thought, based on what was happening, that they were fighting. Hopefully this would go better than those times.

She had invited Sho, too. Sho could help to keep Ritsu's worst impulses in check. Well, he sometimes did, like when he stopped Ritsu from beating Teru up for breaking up with her. Or when he stopped Ritsu from getting back with Rei because he thought that he owed her happiness or something. Or all the times he had stopped Ritsu from ruining the tea because he never, ever, got the tea leaf to water ratio right. Sho could also egg him on, though. Like the time when they were out in the abandoned mansion in the woods and demolished it. Or the time when they had seen who could fly the highest and Ritsu got lost in the stratosphere. Or the time they had…Mob wasn't sure what, exactly, they had been doing and she didn't want details but it had ended with both of them drunk and half-dressed teleported into her and Master Reigen's apartment at two in the morning and Ritsu trying to say…something…to Master Reigen but getting motion sick all over him and the rug. Ok, maybe inviting Sho along had been a dumb move. Or maybe a good one. He was hard to predict, sometimes. Maybe he'd be good for Ritsu, calm. There would be food after all.

Food and drinks were essential, Master, no, Arataka, had said. You needed something to do with your hands, something to do in the dim moments between words. Something to fill up the white noise. Something to do to give yourself time to think. Smoking was good for that, too, but Mob didn't care for cigarettes. Food was also good for keeping the blood sugar level. Blood sugar lows could cause all kinds of negative emotional effects. Food was good, massive amounts of it was better. Also, Arataka had said, it was best to pay for the meal yourself. If you paid for it yourself then you could leave at any time. Also the other person might be less likely to have a massive public freak out.

Mob really, really, REALLY, hoped that Ritsu wasn't going to have a massive public freak out.

She felt two auras pass into her range. Not her full range, she tended to keep her aura as close as possible. They were getting closer, Ritsu and Sho. She let herself see only the aural spectrum. She filtered out everything else that wasn't an esper or a spirit. Calm auras on the both of them. Good. They weren't having one of their usual arguments. Ritsu argued with everyone. Sometimes when they were little he'd even get himself worked up into an argument. Sometimes he would even argue with her about the dumbest stuff. Obviously instrumentality was a good thing and SEELE were the good guys. Everyone got to live without AT fields holding them back and they all got to become perpetually happy orange goo together.

She wished that this was just going to be one of those days where they argued about the meaning of Evangelion. Those were fun arguments because they hadn't gotten heated since they were little. This might get heated. Ritsu had never liked Arataka, not even from day one. He had told her, at first, that he sounded like one of the adults that mom and dad had been warning her about for their entire lives. That she had to be extra careful because she was a girl and lots of bad stuff could happen to her. Then he insisted that Master Reigen, that Arataka, was a fraud and was just using her because he couldn't do any of the spirits part of Spirits and Such by himself. Well, Ritsu had been right about Master Reigen not having powers at first but she didn't care. She hadn't been used. Arataka had saved her in every single possible way that a person could be saved. She could have been the worst kind of monster, like Sho's dad or Mogami. She wasn't, though, and that was because of Arataka. Ritsu just couldn't see it. Ritsu was so attached to his dislike of Arataka that even after the fight with Claw, when she had poured herself into Arataka and he awakened his powers, Ritsu still accused Arataka of using her. Maybe Ritsu just plain did not like Arataka. Well, they weren't kids anymore, so hopefully this would go well.

They were adults now. Hopefully they could discuss this like mature adults. Well, Ritsu was still seventeen but that was practically an adult. He was tall now, taller than her by almost a head. Broader, too. At some point Ritsu had grown up. It had taken Mob by surprise, one day, just how much bigger than her Ritsu had gotten. She was taller, now, but not by much. She at least didn't look like she did in middle school anymore. They looked like adults and now they had to act like adults.

She let herself see normally. They came in and went right to her. She pulled out their chairs with her powers and they sat down. Ritsu sat down carefully, as if he were afraid that the chair could break. Sho practically threw himself into his chair and grabbed the menu. You paid a flat fee and you go to pick as much as you wanted, thank goodness, because Sho could eat like a hamster, or a duck maybe. Lots of food crammed into his mouth at once so that when you looked away and then back again everything was gone in an instant.

"Sister, this is a nice surprise. You don't usually invite us out like this." Said Ritsu eyeing her wearily. When Shigeko did something out of the ordinary it didn't automatically mean anything good. The last time she had invited him out to hang out with no warning it had been to tell him that she had no plans to go to a real university and that he shouldn't throw the entrance exam just for her. What was she going to tell him now? That she was dropping out of community college to become Reigen's full time, three hundred yen an hour, secret weapon and tea fetcher?

"Yeah, you're awesome." Said Sho as he began to mark off what he wanted. It was her treat, after all. He had money, well dad's money that he had hidden, but he knew he had to save it because there wouldn't be any more coming in until he got a job. This was nice of her. She was nice enough, for the most powerful being on Earth anyway. Not that Sho was still weary of her. She was a nice person and she was Ritsu's big sis so he had to play nice.

"Thank you. I thought that you guys might like this place. You can pick as much of what you want from the menu, only that side though." Said Mob as she handed Ritsu a menu. Sho was already hard at work. She wondered if he was eating alright. She knew that the only person who took care of him was Ritsu and Ritsu was still being taken care of by mom and dad.

"I won't ask for too much, sister. I know Reigen barely pays you." Said Ritsu. He checked a few things off as his older sister's aura flared. It always did when he put Reigen down. Well, he had to help her see him for the shady user that he was.

"I have half the business." Said Mob after a moment. No. She did not come here to get into it with Ritsu. Besides, her finances were her own business. Not that she handled the finances. Maybe she should, now that she was an adult and Arataka's….girlfriend.

"So still three hundred yen?" asked Ritsu as some tea was served to them. She had so much potential and she wasted it all on Reigen. Why? What was it about him that made his sister into such an idiot?

"More than that." Said Mob. Before expenses together they made two million yen a year. It was less when rent, food, utilities, salaries, supplies, and stuff was factored in. They had been in the black for years, that was what mattered. They made a lot with what Arataka called their passive income streams. People still bought the book they wrote, they sold Spirits and Such merchandise online, and with Serizawa's help they handled a lot more jobs than they could have before. Plus people still watched them on Youtube and they ran ads on their channel so that was even more money right there.

"Probably more than I make a year." Said Sho as he downed his tea. He hated it when Ritsu got into it with his big sis. First off all it was practically suicidal to piss her off. Secondly Reigen wasn't really a bad guy. He was kind of shady and could be sort of obnoxious sometimes but he wasn't a bad person. Thirdly the whole bad mouth Reigen Arataka thing got old fast, and Sho did not do boredom.

"You have a job?" asked Mob. That was great! Then Sho could worry about money less.

"No, that's why you're doing better than me." Said Sho with a shrug. Ritsu was looking at him now. He raised an eyebrow.

"You can always come and work with us. We could always use more people." Said Mob. Then they could take even more jobs but also then maybe Ritsu would come and hang out and he could see how good a person that Arataka was.

"Sho doesn't want to." Said Ritsu as the first of the food was placed in front of them. Was that what she had called him over to say? That Reigen had found another way to dig himself into her?

"Sho can speak for Sho's self." Said Sho through a mouthful of what must have been the cheapest sushi in the city. This was the American style stuff and sometimes it could be good, Americans sure did love to deep fry, but this was just ok. Kind of like the stuff at the Family Mart.

"Oh. Do you want to, Sho?" asked Mob as she began to eat. Sho shook his head and swallowed.

"No thanks. I'm still studying for entrance exams. I kind of bombed the last try. I guess that's what happens when you've never been to a real school." Said Sho before doing his best hamster imitation and stuffing his mouth with as much as he possibly could.

"You didn't bomb. You couldn't have, we studied all night." Said Ritsu as he ate like a normal person, not someone who had been starved half to death. He dipped his in soy sauce. This was alright. American style. Shigeko probably liked this because she had been hanging out with Reigen for four interrupted years. That was where his family was from, after all, or one of the English speaking countries.

"If that's what you want to call it." Said Sho nudging him. Ritsu tipped the soy sauce over in surprise. Not now. Not in front of his sister. She didn't need to know about that. As far as she was concerned all coupled people did was hold hands and cuddle. He chose to ignore that time he walked in on her and Teru. He must have been hallucinating or misunderstanding or something. Shigeko didn't do stuff like that. She was Shigeko!

"How badly did you do?" asked Mob. She hadn't done well, either, even with tutoring. It was the math that had killed it. Math was hard for her and Master Reigen so their tutoring had just been the blind leading the blind.

"Not well enough. Not as well as Mr. Brainiac over there. I'd kill for hyper-cognition." Said Sho. That's what he figured it was. Ritsu hardly ever studied and was one of the smartest people in the country. Sho worked his ass off and barely made it to the middle of the bell curve.

"I don't have hyper-cognition." Said Ritsu. Shigeko didn't have it so he must not have had it. She had powers that he didn't have, not the other way around. That was the universe's way of being fair. Ritsu was good at school and socializing, Shigeko was good pretty much a living Goddess when she merged with that…thing…that lived under her skin.

"You do too, Ritsu. You're really smart, you're the smartest person I know. I'm so proud of you." Said Mob as dirty plates were taken away and fresh ones were put in front of them. More food came out. Thank goodness. She still had news to break. It was nice just talking to her brother, though. They hadn't done much of that since she moved out.

"Hey, I'm sitting right here. You calling me a moron?" Said Sho through a mouthful of food. Mob wondered if he had ever choked. Master Reigen, Arataka, had choked a few times doing that.

"No, not at all. I just think that Ritsu is the smartest person that I've ever met. That doesn't make you dumb." Said Mob fearing that she had offended Sho. Under the table Ritsu kicked him. Sho should have known by now that Shigeko had trouble reading tones.

"You're smart too, sister. You're smart enough that you don't need to languish with Reigen in that stupid office." Said Ritsu. She could get a job anywhere. She could start her own office if that was what she wanted to do with her life. She could go to university with Tome and study parapsychology if she still wanted a career in the super natural. Hell, she could probably even just support herself exorcising spirits on YouTube if that was what she wanted to do with her life. She didn't have to wrap her entire life in with Reigen's. She was an adult now and it was time to outgrow him like she had outgrown the family home.

"Arataka and I are not languishing. We're very happy together." Said Mob. Ritsu choked on his own shock. Given name? Given name?! She had always called him Master Reigen. What did he go and grant her his given name for?! Couldn't' she see that he was just manipulating her?!

"You know it works better if you chew, right?" Said Sho handing him a cup of tea. Well then. Reigen's given name. Ha! He knew it! Guys always had a sixth sense for when other guys were into people and from the day they met, actually met and exchanged actual words, he knew that Reigen Arataka had it bad for Ritsu's big sis. Not that Sho understood what Ritsu was so upset about. Reigen wasn't a bad guy and who cared who his big sis slept with? That was one hundred percent none of anybody's business.

"Why are you calling him Arataka now?!" said Ritsu loudly enough that people were looking over in their direction. Well then there went the whole 'pray Ritsu doesn't get upset and make a scene' thing.

"He said I could." Said Mob simply. Why else would she be calling him something so intimate? She wasn't the sort of person who would just take it upon herself to call him by his first name.

"But why did he ask you to?" asked Ritsu taking care to keep his voice low. Right. They were in public and Shigeko didn't like to have attention drawn to her like that. Maybe there was no reason. Maybe Reigen just wanted to feel like he had an actual friend.

"Are you guys going out?" asked Sho. Ritsu turned and stared at him like he wanted to reach over and start strangling Sho until the life left his eyes. How could he even think something like that?! That was gross! That was wrong! That was inconceivable! Disturbing! Impossible!

"Ritsu, breathe. You need air to live." Said Mob. Sho was pinned back towards the wall. Well then, pissed off Ritsu was back. Sho hadn't seen pissed off Ritsu since the time someone had posted that picture of his big sis and Reigen all cuddled up on a train together a few years back. Sho held the table down with his powers. No need to ruin a perfectly good lunch.

"I know that's not true, sister. I know that it can't be true…." Said Ritsu though gritted teeth. Sho put a comforting hand on his arm. Wow he was tense. Seriously? Sho could understand being protective but this was a little much.

"Pretty sure you need to breathe to live, man." Said Sho enjoying the drama unfolding in front of him.

"It is. Both the thing about needing air to live and about me being Arataka's girlfriend." Said Mob simply. This seemed like as good a time as any to break the news. Ritsu looked like he was about to explode anyway so she might as well rip this Band-Aid off really quick.

"….what….?" said Ritsu softly. He stared at his sister. He was insane or she was insane or someone was insane. That was the only logical explanation.

"Arataka and I are a couple now. I just thought you ought to know." Said Mob simply. She tried to say it as calmly as she could. She was worried about Ritsu. He looked like he was ready to do something like make a scene in front of everyone.

"No." said Ritsu simply.

"Uh….I don't think you get a say in this." Said Sho. He didn't have any siblings but he was pretty sure that little brothers didn't get to dictate the love lives of big sisters. Maybe big brothers and little sisters but not the other way around.

"Ritsu, Sho's right. You don't get a say in this. I just told you in person because I knew that you would be upset if I just posted this to Friendbook and let you find out like that." Said Mob reaching over for her little brother's hand. He pulled it away.

"No. No, no, no! A thousand times, no!" said Ritsu standing up and slamming both hands down on the table. Mob took a deep breath. She had to keep it together.

"Ritsu, sit down! You're going to get us kicked out!" said Sho using his powers to try and sit Ritsu back down. Ritsu wasn't having it. He couldn't remember being this angry in years. How dare Reigen. How dare Reigen manipulate his sister into…this?! Now he had gone too far!

"I don't care! Sister you can't be in a relationship with Reigen! Just no!" said Ritsu. Now everyone was staring. Someone was recording.

"I can have whoever I want as my boyfriend, Ritsu!" said Mob. This was totally unfair. She had never once said a word against Sho and he had done much worse than tell a few lies over the years.

"Not Reigen Arataka!" said Ritsu. Now the teapot in front of them shattered. Ritsu would have done worse but Sho was holding him back. He tried to calm down. Right. Sho had always checked Ritsu's worst impulses and Ritsu checked Sho's. It was just so hard to calm down! Shigeko had called Reigen, that old fraud she worked for, her **boyfriend.**

"Yes Reigen Arataka!" said Mob. She tried to hold her power back as best as she could. The other Shigeko, the part of her that exploded, wanted to throw Ritsu over the moon to knock some sense into him. They needed Reigen Arataka and he was finally theirs. There was nothing that would make them give him up.

"He's just using you! He's always been using you! Except now it's for sex!" said Ritsu loudly. Everyone was staring, now. A mother covered her child's ears. An old person was asking the young person beside him, presumably his son, what Ritsu had just said.

And that was how they got kicked out of the cheapest all you can eat American style sushi buffet in Seasoning City.

Mob decided that she didn't want to get into it with Ritsu. That was why she decided to walk right to work after paying the bill. She had informed Ritsu of the new situation, like she had planned to, and now she could get back to her normal life. The only trouble was that Ritsu was following her. Well, Ritsu and Sho were following her but it was more like Sho was following Ritsu.

"….that's how guys are! He's just been waiting until you were old enough…." That was Ritsu's latest line of thought. He had this crazy idea what Master Reigen had been planning this since she was little. As if. She was the one who asked him to be with her. She had practically dragged him into this relationship kicking and screaming.

"I don't think she's listening. Come on, let's go do something. You know what happens when she gets pissed off enough." Said Sho. He could see the cracks of white underneath her skin, the way her aura was churning. He wasn't a moron, he knew that even as powerful as he was he stood no chance against Ritsu's big sis.

"Ritsu, I love you but you don't get a say in this. I'm going back to work now. If you're going to be like this please stop following me." Said Mob as the office came into view. She loved her brother and didn't want to explode at him. She didn't want to explode at all, but she was suppressing again. She didn't want to say what she wanted to say. She didn't want to tell Ritsu to mind his own business. She didn't want to tell him that he was her little brother, not her keeper. She didn't want to tell him that he had no right to tell her how to live her life. She didn't want to yell or scream or use curse words at him.

"Sister! Shigeko! Please…don't go up there." Said Ritsu. She just couldn't see that Reigen was still using her and would always use her. He had her well and truly tricked. Now she was literally giving him everything, including herself. Why? Why did this guy make her so **stupid?!**

"I will. I'm going back to work now. Thank you for coming to lunch with me, and you too, Sho." Said Mob. She really had enjoyed seeing Ritsu again but now she needed to give him time to calm down. He'd see it her way, eventually, just like she had seen it his way when it came to Sho.

"Shigeko! Please…." Said Ritsu. She was going right back up to Reigen. Always to Reigen. She had left him all alone, four years ago, to go to Reigen. She was going to leave him forever just to be with Reigen. Why? Why did she have to be like this?

"Ritsu, please stop. I love Arataka and he loves me. Why can't you see that?" asked Mob. Ritsu stared at her. Love? Reigen had tricked her. Reigen didn't love her, Reigen just wanted to keep her around forever so he could use her. It was the same way it had always been except now he was using her for sex, too. Sex.

Ritsu wanted to throw up.

"He's using you. He's always been using you." Said Ritsu trying to keep it together. Next to him the sidewalk began to crack. He could feel and see two other auras. One weak and custard yellow, the other a bright purple. Reigen and Serizawa were there.

"Ritsu, he's not using me and he's never used me. I love you, you're my little brother and I will always love you, but right now you're upsetting me and I want you to go and calm down. We can talk later when you're calm." Said Mob she stepped away from him and ascended the stairs quickly. She could still feel him. He was still down there. She walked through the door as calmly as possible and sat down at her desk. Master Reigen was in the massage/exorcism/yoga/meditation room with a client. Serizawa was in the process of lifting a curse. It looked like the electric kettle was full. She looked around. She needed something to do. Anything. Anything to distract from the way she felt, from the way that Ritsu had reacted.

She busied herself but rearranging the ceramic cats on her desk. She just needed a minute, just a minute. Unfortunately based on the footsteps coming up the stairs, she wasn't going to get her minute. She debated using her powers to reinforce the door but that wouldn't be fair to the clients. Well, client. Serizawa was writing out a receipt for a curse removal. Mob stared at the wall as the door was thrown opened.

"Ritsu, go home, please." Said Mob not even looking at her brother. She didn't have to. His aura was lashing out like crazy.

"What's going on?" asked Serizawa. All he knew was that Shigeko had gone off to have lunch with her brother. Apparently that had gone very wrong. Oh, Sho was there. Were they under attack again?!

"Ritsu, stop it. Look, you're going to make Serizawa explode." Said Mob. The client scuttled out of the office like a frightened crab. Serizawa was getting a little upset, he was charging the air with energy. She used her powers to pass him his umbrella.

"Where the fuck is Reigen?!" said Ritsu. Sho shook his head and then flopped down on the office couch. Fine, if he was so hell bent on making a moron out of himself then Sho wasn't going to stop him.

"Mast-Reigen is with a client right now. Maybe I can help." Said Serizawa. He knew the younger Kageyama. He was prone to…moods. Bad ones. Maybe this was just a bad mood. Sho seemed pretty relaxed and Master Kageyama…Mob…seemed pretty ok too.

"Yeah, you want to help? You really want to help?" asked Ritsu running a hand through his hair. He could feel it sticking up. He wanted to beat Reigen to a bloody pulp for daring to play with his sister's heart like that. He wanted to stuff him full of salt and then burn him like an incense stick. He wanted to dance on his mother's grave! Wait, no, too far. His mother hadn't done anything wrong except give birth to him but she had no either that he would grow up to me a manipulative, womanizing, lecherous, filthy, lying conman.

"Ritsu, calm down." Said Mob. She knew that she wasn't supposed to use her powers against another person but she knew that someone needed to diffuse the situation. Ritsu could explode, too. His explosions were him getting very, very, angry and then losing control. Hers were feeding the other Shigeko too many big emotions. Right now she needed to stop feeling big emotions before the other Shigeko got overfed and tried to come out.

"Ritsu's big sis, he's not calming down until he gets this out of his system. Trust me." Said Sho. He knew what to expect when Ritsu got like this. It wouldn't be fun or pretty but afterwards he'd be all apologies and kowtowing.

"Serizawa, if you really want to help then date my sister." Said Ritsu. Everyone stared at him. Sho was laughing a little. Serizawa had been into her, and maybe still was. This was going to be hilarious! Mob stared at him in shock. First of all she could date whoever she wanted to, second of all she didn't have feelings for Serizawa, and third of all Serizawa didn't have feelings for her.

"What….?" Asked Serizawa. Had Reigen told? He promised not to! Serizawa opened his umbrella and stood under it. He needed to feel small and safe right then. He risked a glance at Mob. She was looking at him with…what was she looking at him with? She didn't like him like that. There was no hope. Then why wasn't she saying anything? How had this even come up?!

"Ritsu you're being ridiculous." Said Mob after a while. She didn't understand the logic there. Why should she date someone she had no feelings for and who didn't have feelings for her? That was ridiculous!

"Yeah, Serizawa's even older than Reigen. Wrong direction, man, wrong direction." Said Sho. That was mean to Serizawa, too. The guy had probably never been with a girl before or even had a crush on one. It was obvious from the way Sho had caught him looking at her. The little dreamy looks. Like she was an angel or something.

"You like her. It's obvious that you like her, so you date her so she stops dating Reigen. You want to be with someone super old, well Sho's right Serizawa is really, super, incredibly old." Said Ritsu. Not that he knew how old Serizawa was, exactly. At some point everyone just sort of blended into the category of adults.

"I don't want to date Serizawa!" said Mob. Her and Serizawa? Why? She didn't think about him like that. He was more like a friend, or a little brother. Well, not her little brother. Her ridiculously, annoyingly, nosy little brother.

"Why not?! He's older, and I guess you like that, he's not bad looking, he's got powers he can't control that well either, you both like Evangelion and Meow Meow Japanese History and stuff like that, and he won't use you for sex like Reigen is!" said Ritsu. Practically screaming. Sho began to laugh out loud. Angry about to explode Ritsu had no filter at all. Well, was about to explode Ritsu. It looked like big sis was syphoning off some of the excess energy.

"Stop saying sex!" said Mob. Her little brother was not allowed to speculate about her sex life or even say the word. She never asked what he and Sho got up to, even though she was curious as to what two boys did, and she would have appreciated if Ritsu stayed just as far out of that part of her life. Besides, it was mean, too, what he was accusing Arataka of. That had been the most amazing night of her life. Arataka was not using her at all.

"Why not! That's why he's with you! Why else would he be!?" asked Ritsu. He knew how guys could be, especially with girls as naive as his sister. He probably just fed her lies about being in love with her and then took her right to bed. Was that why she had broken up with Teru? Because of Reigen?

"I don't think that this is something that we should be talking about, especially at work." Said Serizawa. He was beet red, he could feel it. It hurt, a little, too. He didn't want to think about her and Reigen like that. Not that he had thought about her like that all that often. He had tried not to. Now he knew and he couldn't un-know and the room was so small and he just-

"What in the hell is going on out here!?" asked Reigen. The noise was disturbing the client. He had turned the soothing music up until it was in no way soothing anymore in an attempt to drown out whatever the hell was going on out there. Judging by the maelstrom of emotions he was trying to shrug off and just how angry Ritsu looked he guessed that he wasn't taking the news well.

"I don't want to date Serizawa, Arataka. I want to date you." Said Mob simply. Ritsu could only stare. Literally. Sho was holding him back with his powers. Serizawa had his eyes closed as he tried to keep it together. Reigen gathered as many calm emotions as he could and patted Serizawa on the back. He got a big dose of embarrassment, shame, hurt, and romantic rejection. What in the hell was going on?!

"Why? Why would you want to date him?! Date Serizawa! You have more in common and he won't use you!" said Ritsu. She wanted someone way too old for her? There was someone way too old for her. He was a much nicer guy, too.

"You date Serizawa if you like him so much then!" said Mob. One of her ceramic cats shattered. That one was called cookie dough. She had gotten him last year at the hundred yen shop.

"I'm already dating someone! Someone my own age who doesn't use me! If you want to date someone who's a hundred years old then date Serizawa!" said Ritsu. Serizawa looked down at his desk.

"I'm only thirty-four…." Muttered Serizawa. Sho made a cuckoo-cuckoo motion with his hand and pointed to Ritsu. This was angry, losing touch with reality Ritsu. It was taking all of his strength to hold him back.

"Guys…I have a client…." Said Reigen through clenched teeth. He had given Mob all the time off that she needed specifically so that she didn't end up bringing this circus back to work. Honestly, they were trying to run a business.

"Arataka is not using me! Not for sex and not for anything else!" said Mob. The entire building shook. Serizawa was slumped over his desk now. Sho was laughing out loud. Ritsu looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

"Please stop talking about sex…." Muttered Serizawa. He didn't want to think about her and Reigen having sex. He didn't want to think about sex at all when he was at work. It was really none of his business anyway.

"Yeah, knock it off. I'm trying to run a business here. Come back later when you're not about to piss yourself out of rage." Said Reigen. He wasn't afraid, not at all. Mob and Serizawa had his back. He was hiding in Mob's feelings, now, actually. A vague sort of annoyance with a generous slathering of frustration. It beat the unbridled rage he was getting from Ritsu and the torrent of embarrassment from Serizawa.

"You! You used my sister! You took advantage of her!" said Ritsu trying to break free of Sho's hold on him. A barrier formed as he began to move. Sho's? No, Shigeko's.

"Ritsu will you just forget that already? Please? Nobody took advantage of me. It was my idea, ok?" said Mob trying to calm down. There was a client in there and they needed to not be terrifying the client right then and there. They still had rent to pay and stuff.

"But why? Why would you believe his lies? Not now but for all of these years?" asked Ritsu, his voice breaking. Reigen wondered if he could brute force Ritsu out the door. The kid was as big as he was, bigger even, maybe.

"Because he's telling the truth. He loves me and I love him and now we're a couple. I don't know why you can't just be happy for me." Said Mob softly. She just wanted the people around her to be happy. She knew that Ritsu would be upset but not this upset.

"Because he's using you. He just said all of that so that he could sleep with you. He's a guy, Shigeko, he's only after one thing." Said Ritsu. She was too naïve and always had been. Reigen would have walked right up to Ritsu and hit him in the face if Mob hadn't put a barrier up. So that was the Reigen Arataka that existed in Ritsu's mind. How? How had Ritsu come to view him like that? Well, besides the whole dating a former student thing.

"So then you're just using Sho? I know you guys sleep together, I'm not dumb. Well, I don't know exactly how it works but I know you guys have sex. Does that mean that you don't love Sho? You're just using him for sex?" asked Mob simply. Serizawa groaned. This was not at all socially acceptable conversation. Reigen shared his sentiments and wondered, prayed, that the client couldn't hear this bizarre conversation. He wanted to kick everyone out but it honestly didn't look like Ritsu was going anywhere until whatever this was got settled.

"You don't know how it works?" asked Sho incredulously. Not that he wanted his boyfriend's big sister to be thinking about him like that. It was just amazing that someone in this day and age where anything you could imagine was a Google search away still didn't know. Mob shook her head.

"Don't tell her!" said Ritsu. No. That was not something that he was discussing with his big sister. If she didn't know then she could Google it or buy some of those manga they sold at the adult only shop.

"I don't want to know! What you guys do is none of my business just like what I do is none of your business." Said Mob. She was still absorbing energy from Ritsu, enough to keep him from tearing the building down.

"You and Reigen shouldn't be doing anything!" said Ritsu physically sick at the thought of it. Reigen Arataka and his sister…he wanted to kill him.

"You are not the boss of me, Ritsu. I'll do whatever I want with whoever I want whenever I want!" said Mob. Honestly. This was not even in the same prefecture as his business. She never once said not to do…whatever…with Sho even though it had taken her a while to like Sho. Even back in middle school she had never said a thing about whatever he and Rei were doing…or not doing as Rei often complained about.

"But why him?! There are so many other great guys out there!" said Ritsu

"I don't want lots of great guys, I want Reigen Arataka! He's amazing, Ritsu! He's the most amazing person I've ever met. He's always been there for me. He saved me so many times and in so many different ways. No matter what, there's been a lot of what over the years, we've always come back to each other. That's what love is, Ritsu. Love is being there for someone no matter what. Love is knowing that whatever happens that person will always be there for you. Love is sharing and caring and trust and devotion and that's what Arataka and I have. I know that you don't believe me but that's the truth." Said Mob. Everyone stared at her. That had been the most words she had said at once in a while.

"Can you guys please take this somewhere else? I'm trying to keep the lights on, here. Besides, you're freaking Serizawa out." Said Reigen. The kid didn't look like he was five seconds away from going supernova, so out he went. Time for the circus to pack it up and move on!

"I don't know why you don't like him, or some other guy. Teru might take you back, if you ask. You liked him." said Ritsu. Anyone but Reigen Arataka. Any other guy in the entire world.

"I don't want to date Serizawa or Teru. I want to date Arataka, we love each other. Nobody is lying to anyone, nobody is using anyone. Ok? I'm telling the truth. I don't tell lies, Ritsu." Said Mob balling her fists up in her dress. Honestly. How many times did she have to say it before the message sunk in?

"You date him then, kid, since you seem so hell bent on it." Said Reigen. Honestly. Enough was enough. So the kid was angry, that was fine. So the kid needed to blow off a little steam, that was fine too. However, coming into Reigen's place of business, disturbing the peace, and making everyone feel like crap was not fine! Serizawa had been doing so well that morning, too. He didn't need his crush on Mob rubbed in his face like this.

"Why did you tell?" asked Serizawa quietly. All eyes were on him now. Reigen wanted to find the heaviest thing on his desk, tape it to the second heaviest, and start bashing himself over the head with it.

"I didn't say a word, Serizawa. I would never do that to you." Said Reigen. How oblivious had he been? Those two over there seemed to have figured it out on their own. Why else suggest Serizawa so many times? The guy was older than Reigen was!

"We figured it out on our own. I mean, you were pretty obvious." Said Sho. He was like a middle schooler with a crush, honestly, those first few weeks. The only person blind enough not to see it was Ritsu's socially inept big sis.

"I don't get it. What was obvious? asked Mob genuinely not getting it. They were talking like Serizawa had feelings for her. That was crazy. Serizawa was like a friend, or a little brother, to her. Besides, what could he have seen in her? He was even older than Master Reigen and Master Reigen, no, Arataka, had taken so much convincing to get to this point.

"Nothing, Mob, nothing at all. Listen, I know that you guys have a lot to work through but this is a place of business. Everyone in this room is entitled to their own feelings, no matter what they may be. What you are not entitled to do is to come in here and start screaming and scaring away the clients. I don't go to where you work or have school and start screaming now do I? We're a room full of adults. Some of us might not get along all the time but we have to act like adults here. Ok? We aren't children anymore. If you guys want to keep arguing about this then take it somewhere else because I am trying to work. Understood?" asked Reigen in his best authority like voice, the same voice that got him mistaken for the boss of Claw all those years ago. He scanned the room. Sho was nodded. Mob was blank. Ritsu was balling up his fists but didn't look like he was ready to start killing anyone anymore. Serizawa was still beet red. The client was hopefully enjoying the music that was practically blasting out of the massage/exorcism/yoga/nap room.

"Do whatever you want, Shigeko. Do whatever the hell you want." Said Ritsu before he turned and left. Mob hesitated for a moment before getting up and following him. Reigen poured Serizawa a cup of lukewarm tea and went back to work. Well, that had been a real cluster fuck now hadn't it?

"Brother, wait!" said Mob as she ran down the stairs. Ritsu turned to face her.

"What? I told you that I don't give a damn anymore." Said Ritsu. Fine. She had won. Mom was right, she could be so damned stubborn sometimes. Sho decided to take a few steps away. He was tired of watching them fight.

"Here, this is yours." Said Mob. She threw the energy she had collected back at him. In doing so she shared herself with him just like she had shared herself with Serizawa all of those years ago. Back then she had been focusing on her feelings of friendship and what had happened to form that idea. Now she was focusing on love. Ritsu went rigid and gasped.

_He's eleven. He hurt his little brother. Mom and dad say that he's a monster. They say it behind closed doors when they think he can't hear. He can, even if he pulls his nightgown up over his head he can still hear. He meets a man named Reigen Arataka, the only human being on Earth who isn't afraid of him._

_He's still eleven. He got started and broke something. Master Reigen isn't mad. "I bet you could even lift me if you wanted to." He lifts Master Reigen too fast and he hits the ceiling. He drops Master Reigen too suddenly and he ends up sprawled out on the floor. "Hey, don't be like that. As if YOU could ever hurt ME. Come on, let's get some ramen. Tomorrow we'll work on your finesse."_

_He's fourteen and he's all alone in the world. Little brother yelled at him. Little brother hurt him. Mom yelled at him. She told him that she was done. He can't go anywhere. He stays with Teru for a night but then Master Reigen calls and says that they have to live together. It's the happiest moment of his life so far. Master Reigen really does love him._

_He's still fourteen and little brother has been kidnapped. The world is wrong. He can't see. It all returns to nothing. He just keeps letting him down, letting him down, letting him down….but then Master Reigen is there. Master Reigen takes him out of that horrible room and now he can SEE again._

_Master Reigen almost died for him. Master Reigen held his power in his hands and used it. Master Reigen is truly amazing._

_Sex is disappointing. He knew hee wasn't ready but what's done is done. Master Reigen is there to listen. He assures him that he'll have instrumentality with someone someday. He thought that having sex with Teru would be instrumentality. He was inside of him after all. There are different kinds of instrumentality. Master Reigen lets her inside of his aura. Usually it's the other way around. This is also instrumentality. _

_The world is small. The world is cruel. He is powerless. Every single day he's hurt. Today they tripped him down the stairs. Yesterday they took his shoes and threw them in the river. The day before that they pulled up his skirt in front of the whole class. The day before that he doesn't have a napkin, bleeds into his school skirt, and that awful girl points it out to everyone, the day before that the awful girl cuts a chunk of his hair out, the day before that the awful girl pours milk over his head and he slips in it. It's ok because he can go home and dream of the man with the light hair and blue eyes who can always make him smile. He doesn't know who this stranger is but he's always there for him. He would protect him, had he been real._

_Death is near. He knows that he is going to die. Sho-SHO OH MY GOD SHO-is on the ground. He's bleeding. His arm has extra corners. A few of his teeth are on the ground. His eye is swollen shut. This is what this man is willing to do to his own son. No. They have to talk him down, to change him. He's hitting them. They've got to hold back or they will kill him. They've got to let go or they will be killed. Master Reigen is there. He's got a gun. He's going to kill for them. No. He's going to die for them. THEY CAN'T LET THIS HAPPEN._

_He has no idea who he is. He's in a white dress he's never seen before. Oh. His clothes got ruined. The other him stole this. The shoes were to be matchy-matchy. There's a weapon in his hand. It's a yo-yo. It cuts like razor wire. The city is floating. Who is he now? He's holding those buildings up. He's…he's trying to keep the others safe. He's not Mob anymore. He's not Shigeko anymore. He's their wrath. He's their mercy. He's a conversation, an understanding. He needs to fight. There's no running away from this. He needs to fight like the heroes in his stories. He IS a magical girl. He IS and EVA pilot. He IS an angel. LIKE AN ANGEL WITH CRUEL AND MERCILESS INTENT GO FORTH YOUNG BOY AND YOU'LL BECOME A LEGEND!_

_Master Reigen is looking up at them. At him. He's enjoying this. His yo-yo cuts through the building like butter. The Unit-1 he made tries to cut through Toichiro's AT field. He can warp reality itself if he wants to. He should not be having fun. This isn't fiction. This is real life. He needs to keep Master Reigen safe. He isn't a magical girl. He isn't an EVA pilot. He isn't an angel. He's Mob. He's Mob and he needs to end this._

_The light is too much. He needs to take it all in. He needs to take it in so that Toichiro can apologize to those he wronged. This is something that needs to happen. He needs to take in this light and he needs to live. He needs to live so that he can confess to Master Reigen. It's too much. It hurts. It burns. He can take it. He needs to take it. He uses this power as a tool. It's a knife and knives are tools. He focuses on building. When he comes back to the world he's buried until a giant broccoli tree. Master Reigen is digging him out. "Will you still love me when I'm a gown up?" "Mob I love you right now."_

_There she is. The evil girl. The terrible girl. Asagiri Minori. Is this real? What is real? He can't see. He can't think. He's pulling off his clothes. He doesn't care who sees. No scars. The wound from where she stabbed him is gone. His fingers and toes aren't crooked from being broken. There's no burn on his arm from when they spilled acid on him in science class. There's no scar on his calve from when they shoved him into the chain link fence in gym class. He has no scars. But what if this is another trick. Where is Mogami? WHERE IS MOGAMI?! He doesn't want to exist in this world anymore. He switches places. The other him is strength. The other him will find Mogami. He doesn't know what happened. He doesn't know where he is. He doesn't know who he is. He's in a tornado. Master Reigen is there. Master Reigen is hurt! "Mob….come back to me. I'm here, Mob. I will always be here. Shigeko…I'm here for you too. For you two. The both of you. I love you both and I accept you both. Please, please come back to me." The city is in ruins but they can fix it. Reigen Arataka is with them and when he's there they can do anything._

_He's eighteen years old and he's been waiting for this moment for almost an eternity. Reigen is dancing around the question. All he needs is a yes or a no. He can't live like this any longer. It's a yes. It's the most beautiful word that he's ever heard in his life. They kiss. It's amazing. They make love for the first time. He had no idea that it could be this good. He tells Arataka about the life he wants. He wants a life filled with friends and love. He wants perpetuity. Arataka will share perpetuity with them. He wants friends and a family and a son named Shigeo who the two of them will love more than anything else in the world. He wants his perfect happy ending. He's getting it._

"Do you understand now, brother?" asked Mob as Ritsu came back to her. Ritsu stared at her. That had been…intense. When Serizawa had described it to him Ritsu had assumed that it would feel like watching a movie, maybe. He had lived her life, those parts of it, anyway….he had lived her life and now he knew.

"I understand, sister…and I'm sorry." Said Ritsu. She pulled him into a hug. He hugged her back. They were both so happy. They didn't have to be empaths to get caught in that positive feedback loop. Mob was crying a little, and so was Ritsu. Mob cried because Ritsu finally understood and Ritsu was crying both for being such a major asshole and for what his sister had gone through over the years. Mob wiped her tears and his.

"I forgive you. You didn't understand but now you do." Said Mob. That had eventually gone well. Hopefully telling her parents would be easier.


	4. Interlude, Younger Brother Apologizes

"Here. This is for you." Said Serizawa as Mob sat down at her desk. He was holding something in his hand. Mob held hers out and something light and ceramic was put in it. She opened her hand. Oh!

"Thank you! How did you put him back together?" asked Mob. She had shattered her ceramic cat, cookie dough, into a million little pieces. Serizawa shrugged.

"Glue, mostly. I used my powers to glue it back together." Said Serizawa not looking at her. It hadn't taken much effort. Things wanted to be put back together after they broke. He learned that trick from her, after he had seen her put the city back together for the first time. He had learned a lot from her.

"Serizawa, you're amazing. Thank you!" said Mob with a smile. Serizawa smiled back, a little. It hurt, a little. The wound hadn't scabbed over yet. He thought that he was over it. She was with Master Reigen and that was it, that was the way that things are going to be from now on. He had been alright, for a little while, until her brother had reached one hundred percent upset and made all of those suggestions.

Not that he had stayed up staring at the ceiling and imagining what it would be like to be with her.

"You're welcome Master-um, Mob." Said Serizawa. Mob. Her given name. She was letting him use her given name.

"Are you alright? I can't tell what your expression is." Said Mob. He was smiling but it didn't look like his usual smiles. She looked over towards Master Reigen. He could always tell what people were feeling. He was looking at his computer. He was working, like she should have been. It was time to start the day.

"I'm fine, don't worry." Said Serizawa before sitting down at his desk. He could feel Reigen looking at him out of the corner of his eye. Serizawa hadn't meant anything by giving her the cat. He just wanted to put it back together to make her happy. Nothing more.

"Arataka, what are we doing today?" asked Mob. She saw him shift in his seat. They had spent the night curled up together again. It wasn't easy on his back, being the big spoon. Her neck was a little stiff too. It wasn't easy being the little spoon either. If there was time they could stop by the cheap department store during the day before it got crowded. They could get either a big bed or another futon for him.

"The usual. Back rubs, curse removals, exorcisms. Why?" asked Reigen. It amazed him how willfully blind he had been. Not that he was jealous. Mob had picked him. She didn't even have the faintest idea of Serizawa's feelings for her. Serizawa wouldn't try anything. He wasn't that kind of guy. Plus, well, he liked being employed.

"I know your back hurts. I thought that we could get a bigger bed, or a futon today, before the store got crowded. If there's time." Said Mob

"You can just get one on Amazon, and probably for cheaper, too." Said Reigen. He had been thinking about the bed situation. He liked sharing with her and he knew that she would be devastated if he ever suggested that they stop sharing.

"Isn't it better to test them out first? That way you can know how it feels." Said Mob. Reigen raised an eyebrow. He knew what she meant by test it out. She really was a horny brat, sometimes, though he meant that in the fondest terms possible. He rolled his shoulders. Not that he would mind. Serizawa was trying to look busy, Reigen could tell. Right, empathy. Poor guy was still hurting. Thanks to Mob's little brother opening up barely healed wounds. That kid...

"I think that you maybe just want to go shopping." Said Reigen. Mob did like going to stores, she mostly just looked at things though. She treated the hundred yen store like a museum, she even took pictures sometimes.

"For a new bed, Arataka." Said Mob. That and, well, it was a couple thing. It was grown up couple thing to do and they were a grown up couple so why not?

"It looks like it'll get slow for me in the afternoon, how about then, Mob?" asked Reigen. That was such a…domestic…activity. He had been living with Mob since she was fourteen but this was the most domestic thing that they had ever done together. Well, as a couple.

"Ok. Serizawa, you can be in charge for a little bit, right?" asked Mob. Serizawa practically jumped up.

"Sure! Of course!" said Serizawa. He didn't much want to listen to the two of them talk about buying a bed together. Why did it hurt so much? It hurt less when she had told him herself. Maybe now because he was thinking about it. Maybe now because he could actually see them being a couple.

"Mob, can you look in the back and tell me how many bags of salt we have left?" asked Reigen. He needed to talk to Serizawa again because he was not going to sit through this. Espers were loud in general but powerful ones like Serizawa and Mob were extra loud, like having someone scream their feelings into a megaphone six inches from him. He needed to, once again, get this sorted out.

"We just ordered salt, Arataka." Said Mob. It wasn't that she minded doing the inventory, it just didn't seem necessary.

"I just want to know how much we have left, that's all." Said Reigen

"Alright." Said Mob. She got up and went to the back room. Reigen waited until he could hear the door shut behind her.

"Serizawa, having a day again?" asked Reigen. If he ever saw Ritsu again he would wring his stupid neck. Angry or not one did not say things like that. Reigen wouldn't have even freaked out that badly if it had been his own sister in Mob's position, not that he had any sisters. Still, it had been a bit much and now it was up to Reigen himself to pick up the pieces.

"Sort of, but I'll be fine." Said Serizawa risking a glance in Reigen's direction. He didn't seem mad, that was good.

"You know you can talk to me, right?" said Reigen. It was weird, sort of, being this person to someone his own age. Serizawa was his age chronologically but mentally he seemed so much younger sometimes. Lack of social contact would do that to a person.

"I know, Reigen, I know. I'll be fine, really." Said Serizawa. He didn't know what he would even say. It seems to be getting worse, not better? I don't know what's wrong with me and it's making me resent myself? That I used to be able to think of something else but now she's consuming more and more of my thoughts because I could have had something with her but I missed my shot not that I even knew that I could have taken a shot not that I even had a shot-

"Are you sure?" asked Reigen. He could feel the energy crackling in the air again. He tried to pull his aura in, to pull away from Serizawa's anxiety.

"I'm sure. I'll be…I'll be fine. How are you?" asked Serizawa because, yes he knew that talking about it would make him feel better in the long run, in the now he wanted to distance himself from all that he was feeling.

"I'm fine. I'm ready to kill Mob's little brother but I'm fine." Said Reigen. Serizawa looked up at him in alarm.

"Don't be angry with him, that's just how he is. Sometimes he gets into moods. Master Kageyama, Mob, said that sometimes he just gets so angry that he doesn't realize fully what he's saying and doing. It's like when she gets emotionally overwhelmed and doesn't know what she's doing." Said Serizawa. He exploded out of anxiety, she exploded out of the collective force of overwhelming emotion, and her brother exploded out of anger. Everyone was different. He had never seen Reigen explode, though. What made him explode? What pushed him to that point?

"That's not the point. He knows better. You and Mob…you can't control it but he should be able to." Sid Reigen. He needed to have empathy. He needed to remind himself that Mob's little brother was only seventeen and had a lot going on. The kid didn't have too much stability in his life, not really. He had a low opinion of the Kageyama's parenting ability. That kid was under a lot of pressure. It was hard being the only son in a family and especially hard being the only son in a family with two parents who were perfectly fine with letting one child walk right out the door at fourteen because she had been a little difficult. He needed to empathize with the kid. He had a lot going on and was just trying to protect his big sister, the only person in his life that was stable enough to be there for him no matter what, and there had been a lot of what over the years.

Reigen needed to forgive him.

"Oh. I didn't know that he could." Said Serizawa not meaning anything by it. He had just assumed that Ritsu was just saying whatever came to mind because he wanted to protect his sister. From what Serizawa didn't know. He did know that families were very protective of their girls. He didn't understand why. If anything she should have been the one protecting her family, but he could sort of see what Ritsu was getting it.

He still shouldn't have told Mob…good thing she didn't know. She couldn't even conceive of it.

"He's seventeen, he should. Mob hardly ever explodes, even." Said Reigen. Mob had been having a good few years. She hadn't truly and completely lost herself since that day when she merged with the other her and almost leveled the city looking for Mogami. He didn't know where she went after he put them back together but she had managed to kill Mogami so…yay…? Whatever happened to her that day and the subsequent days when she had been totally missing had put her and the other her mostly right.

She still almost lost control, though, but in a good way. Serizawa didn't need to know about that, though.

"She's had more practice. She's amazing, sometimes, I mean that she's managed to do so well even though she's so much…more powerful…than anyone…than me." Said Serizawa. She could have so easily turned out like him. She could have so easily hidden herself away from the world for years but she didn't. She was strong enough to go out there each day and help people even though she had all of that power barely contained within her.

"She is. She really is." Said Reigen. He knew that he was on dangerous ground now. He didn't fault Serizawa for how he felt. Reigen himself felt the same way and had felt like this for God knows how long. Reigen couldn't fault him for feeling like crap right now, either. Reigen knew what it felt like, when the person you cared for was unattainable. Serizawa would get over it eventually.

"Oh." Said Serizawa. He felt someone getting closer. He let himself see. Dark blue. Oh, Ritsu was back. Oh no, Ritsu was back.

"What's up?" asked Reigen. Serizawa looked suddenly bothered. That could mean anything from he was a little anxious to the world was about to burn down so they'd better get some water. Mob took the moment to come darting out of the stock room, her gym shoes slapping against the floor.

"Ritsu's here!" said Mob as she ran to the door. Reigen groaned. No. Nope. Nada. Not going to happen. Not twice in two days.

Ritsu clutched a cardboard pastry box in his hands. He had been such an asshole yesterday, an overgrown brat. It had been the shock, mostly, that made him act out. At least Sho had held him back before he could start breaking things on accident, or out of anger. Anger, guilt, and other negative emotions fueled his powers. He was like his sister like that. Family trait, most likely. Family traits weren't always bad. His sister always atoned for when she did something wrong, or if she just felt like she did something wrong. Well Ritsu knew for a fact that he did something wrong and now he had to atone for what he did. Not that he was sure how to do so.

That was what the pastry was for. He had to apologize not only to his sister but also to Serizawa and Reigen. Heh. Apologizing to Reigen. He never thought the day would come.

Food was good for apologies. Well, he had originally decided to just come by and say sorry but Sho said that if he was going to be waking up at the crack of dawn then he could at least pick up something for breakfast because Sho did not feel like sitting at the table and listening to his parents either argue or start up on the 'Ritsu you're so amazing now live up to these new expectations' lecture series. They were on part five, or, the debate over whether or not he should get a girlfriend.

Sho hated that one.

Maybe, just maybe, his parents would have something knew to fight about once Shigeko broke the news about her and Reigen. Mom would probably hit the roof. Dad would have to be wheeled out in a stretcher. He knew that it was selfish but it would be good, honestly, if the two of them could talk about something other than him for one goddamned night. They had another kid after all, even if they pretended that they didn't.

The new house didn't even have a room for Shigeko.

They didn't make her a room. They didn't even consider making her a room. A waste of space, mom had said. It would make the taxes too high, dad said. He knew the value of everything, dad, even a hug. It would be better when the day came that he left for university. Then it would just be him and Sho and they could finally be together and not have to hide and sneak around and lie. They wouldn't have to pretend that they were just friends. They could have a bed big enough for two. They could make actual breakfast together and lunch and dinner and live like adults and it would be awesome.

Was that how Shigeko felt? What that what it felt like when she had moved in with Reigen? Was that what it was like for her now? She was an adult and she could do literally whatever she wanted to do. She could have anything, be with anyone, but she chose Reigen Arataka. Out of all the guys in her life, and there were a lot, she had picked Reigen. Even over Teru, and he was great. Even over Serizawa, and they were super compatible despite the age thing. Why?

She loved him.

Ritsu knew why she loved him. Sharing her memories hadn't been like watching a movie for him. Really it had been like he had been living in her skin. He had lived every single moment that she had showed him. He knew, now, just how much Reigen Arataka meant to her. He had seen the Reigen that existed in her mind and he was a great guy. Nice. Devoted. Funny. Caring.

Other things too. Words that Ritsu did not want to apply to Reigen ever.

Why, oh God why, did Shigeko have to show him that?

He was going to live a life of celibacy from now on. It was the only way. He couldn't even kiss Sho after that. One did not need to know these things about their big sisters. The silver lining was that at least Reigen hadn't done anything to hurt her. Ritsu now had confirmation that Reigen loved his sister and she loved him and everything was great between them.

Ritsu really, really, really didn't need to know what Reigen was like. What it was like. No. He could have died without knowing that. Maybe desperate times called for desperate measures. Maybe he just made his sister feel so cornered that she had shared everything with him so that he would understand. Or maybe she couldn't control it with any kind of precision. That would make sense. Both explanations would make sense.

He's going to have to face all of them, the entire office. He needed to apologize, to atone. One box for the office, one for him and Sho. An apology and then an olive branch. He shouldn't have pulled away from Sho like that. That had been mean, too. Well, hopefully this was enough pastry to make up for all the ways in which he had messed up.

He's in front of the building. He can feel three auras. The strongest is his sister followed by Serizawa and then Reigen. He takes a deep breath and then heads up the stairs. It smells heavily of incense, it gets up his nose and for a moment he thinks that he's going to sneeze and send everything flying and then he's have nothing to apologize with. He hopes that it happens, maybe, because then he can just go home and not have to face everyone and he can make it up to Sho later, too and then-

His phone vibrates.

He clicks it opened. Shigeko wants to know what he's hovering outside for. She's asking him to come up as long as he doesn't yell, scream, tell her who to date, or use the word sex in any way.

Right. He had said that a lot, hadn't he.

Well in his defense he thought that Reigen was using her. Also, knowing that your own sister would be…like that…with someone…yeah it wasn't something that one could accept easily.

He hoped to God that they liked pastry.

The second his hand touched the door it opened with a burst of power. He saw his sister's aura before he saw her. She looked weirdly happy to see him. She was emoting, sort of. Her eyes looked bright.

"Brother!" said Mob. He was alright! He didn't look angry at all anymore and he had even gotten himself something to eat. He tended not to eat when he got upset. He tended to brood and chew on what upset him until he couldn't take it anymore and acted like a jerk when it go to be too much.

"Sister….hi…" said Ritsu. He couldn't look at her. He couldn't look at her without seeing what she had shown him. He looked at a spot on the wall. There was a sign up with the prices of various exorcism services. It barely covered a deep looking crack.

"No. Out." Said Reigen pointing towards the door. He was not in the mood to get into it with the kid. He needed some time to cool down. Ritsu had accused him of using Mob, of hurting Mob If that had been any other man he would have been drop kicked through to the South Pole.

"Listen I'm-" said Ritsu. He had to apologize. He had to say sorry. He needed to show that he had changed, he understood, and that he was sorry. Otherwise the guilt would eat him alive.

"No. Go." Said Reigen pointing towards the door. The kid wasn't filled with righteous anger anymore. He was looking at the wall, actually. He felt bad. Good. Seventeen or not he was old enough to know never to talk to someone like that.

"I think that Arataka is still upset, Ritsu, but I forgive you." Said Mob. Reigen almost rolled his eyes. Mob would forgive anymore. You walk right up to her and spit in her face and she'd still forgive you.

"I'm sorry! Ok! I acted like a jerk and I'm sorry. I just…it was weird, ok?" said Ritsu. Serizawa nodded. He forgave Ritsu. It was weird and Ritsu obviously just had some trouble coping. Serizawa could understand that. Reigen was not as forgiving.

"Ok. You're sorry. I acknowledge that you're sorry about what you did but that doesn't change what happened." Said Reigen. It was hard to see Ritsu as a child. If he had been younger, smaller, then Reigen could have easily written it off as a childish tantrum. If he had to see Mob as woman then he had to see her younger brother as a man and Reigen would not take that from another man. Or maybe it had been a teenage brat's tantrum. Seventeen, the edge of seventeen, was a weird time. Not a boy and not a man.

"But when someone apologizes to you you're supposed to accept their apology." Said Mob. She accepted everyone's apologies because you didn't just say I'm sorry to someone. That was one of those things that you had to mean or it wouldn't be right.

"Mob, it's different." Said Reigen. Mob was the most forgiving person on the planet. She was also, well, a she. It was different between guys. Another man had accused him of using her, Mob, his Mob, for sex. Had accused of that multiple times. Had come into HIS place of business and accused him of that. Maybe it was just getting to him because that was exactly how it looked. Maybe because he felt a little guilty that he…but he had no reason to feel guilty. Mob was a grown woman and she could make her own choices and she chose him.

"Why? It's just Ritsu. He's always been mean to you." Said Mob. That sounded better in her head. She had meant that Ritsu had never liked him so him being so mean yesterday hadn't been out of the ordinary for him. He had never liked Arataka and sometimes got into his 'Ritsu moods' so it wasn't as bad as if someone nice had been mean.

"It's different because, first of all, because he's a guy. Mob, guys don't say things like that to other guys. Secondly not only did he say all of that to me he bothered you and Serizawa. Mob, that could have gone so, so, so bad. Also, we had a client! I don't know about you guys but I like being employed!" said Reigen. Mob nodded. It would have been bad if she or Serizawa were to have exploded. But she hadn't exploded, actually exploded, in years. Not since she and the other Shigeko merged and killed Mogami.

"I'm not a child. I'm not going to explode." Said Mob. Reigen cocked an eyebrow.

"Mob, I've seen you explode, and recently too." Said Reigen. Mob felt a brush of pink across her face. Ritsu decided that his shoes were incredibly interesting. So much more interesting than the people around him.

"….that was different." Said Mob. She hadn't broken everything again, just moved some stuff around. She couldn't help it, but it wasn't an actual explosion.

"Still, you and Serizawa have both been known to lose control from time to time. He knows full well what can happen to the both of you." Said Reigen. For Mob it was enough for someone to sing 'I'm sorry' to get out of trouble. Reigen was, well, tired. He knew what he was getting into when he started this with Mob but he had also been listening to the constant stream of dislike from her little brother since the kid was ten.

"Ritsu is sorry, though. Right Ritsu?" asked Mob. Ritsu nodded, still looking down at his shoes. He didn't want to look at either of them because it was just way too awkward. The things Shigeko showed him, looking at the both of them now, it was too much. Apologies were always hard but this one was the hardest he had ever had to make. Well, one of the hardest.

"I'm sorry. Please, forgive me. I brought you guys breakfast." Said Ritsu holding out the box and still looking down at his shoes. He could feel everyone looking at him. He heard Reigen get up and take the box from him.

"You're lucky I have such a soft spot for your sister." Said Reigen. Apologies meant a lot to Mob. He knew this, he had known this for years. Her brother meant a lot to her, too. He felt slighted, disrespected, insulted, but he knew that he had to push that away for Mob. She was what mattered the most to her. Besides, the kid seemed genuinely sorry if he was extending an olive branch. He should make nice with the kid, he could very well end up being his brother in law some day.

"And free food." Said Ritsu before he could stop himself. He looked up. Reigen just rolled his eyes. Mob took a pastry with her powers and passed the box to Serizawa.

"Thank you, brother." Said Mob as the box was passed to him. Ritsu took one, he needed something to do with his hands. Well he had said sorry, it was accepted, and now he could get on with his day. Right?

"I'll just get going…then." Said Ritsu as he began to inch his way out of the room. Mob looked up at him.

"You can stay." Said Mob. Reigen and Serizawa exchanged a look.

"He's probably got stuff to do. Here, let me walk you out." Said Reigen. He walked over and led Ritsu out the door with a hand on his back. Mob watched them descend the stairs before looking over what she had to do for the day. She could feel Serizawa looking at her. She looked up and him and he looked away. She could hear Ritsu and Master Reigen talking. No raised voices, so that was good. No more fighting.

Ritsu and Reigen were, for once, having a civil discussion like actual grown men. Hell had officially frozen over. Pigs had learned to fly. They had invented a diet cola without the funny aftertaste.

"I love Mob, alright, and I would never do anything to hurt her. Do you understand?" asked Reigen. He was outside the building down, smoking a cigarette. Ritsu had declined. He had heard his dad say it a thousand times, people who don't smoke miss out on half their lives or whatever. Well, Ritsu knew that if he started smoking he would definitely end up missing out on half his life.

At least he and Reigen weren't going to kill each other. It would have been really embarrassing to end up being killed by Reigen Arataka.

"Yeah, I get it now. I know. Shigeko showed me." Said Ritsu shifting. He couldn't meet Reigen's eye so he stared at his shoes. Beat up dress shoes. His pants were frayed at the cuffs. They were kind of short. He had pink socks on.

"Do you really? Because I don't want a repeat of what happened the other day." Said Reigen taking care not to blow smoke in Ritsu's face.

"I'm sorry, ok? I was just freaked out. I mean, wouldn't you be?" said Ritsu still not able to look at Reigen. Reigen took another drag as he thought.

"Probably. If I didn't know Mob I would be. The thing is you know Mob and you know that there isn't anybody in the world that can make her do something that she doesn't want to do." Said Reigen. He took a deep breath. This was just a kid. He may have stood taller than Reigen himself but he was still talking to a kid. The edge of seventeen was not a good time.

"I know! I was there, ok. I was there for the times we fought Claw and the Divine Tree thing and the time she hunted down Mogami. I know how powerful my sister is." Said Ritsu. He didn't need a lecture. He knew that his sister was on another level, somewhere that may have even been beyond comprehension, and he didn't need to be reminded of that fact.

"No, not about her powers. Mob is damned stubborn, we both know that. She's not just stubborn but she's smart, too. She's not going to let someone use her for sex. Ok? And yes, I will use that word. You certainly used it enough." Said Reigen. He hadn't seen Mob's little brother get angry enough lose his filter in years. He was old enough to know better.

"I know! I know, ok! It was just so weird, ok? She just came out and said it and then all I could think about was how old you were and how you always lied to her, and you were lying before she told me, and then I just got madder and madder and madder. I just exploded, ok? I exploded and I'm sorry." Said Ritsu sounding like a kid. An almost six foot tall kid.

"Yeah, it is really fucking weird. I'll give you that." Said Reigen taking another drag. Now Ritsu looked up at him. Reigen shrugged.

"I know, right? It's a sign of the apocalypse. We actually agree on something." Said Reigen

"Yeah, it's going to rain fire any second now." Said Ritsu

"Well, it's still better than you killing me for dating your sister." Said Reigen

"I wouldn't have killed you. I was just going to…I don't know what I was going to do, actually." Said Ritsu

"Apparently play matchmaker. Seriously, though, don't mess with Serizawa like that. Ok? He's an anxious guy and he doesn't need that. Plus I just had him feeling ok about it. Don't make it awkward." Said Reigen. Serizawa had a crush on Mob. It was a weird enough situation without Mob's little brother coming in and pointing out the elephant in the room. Thank God Mob was so dense.

"I'm sorry about that, too. I guess I just figured that he was more…harmless…I guess. I just thought that you-" said Ritsu

"I know what you thought, you told me what you thought. I'm going to let this one go because you're young and you didn't fully know what you were saying. Don't ever accuse me of that again, though, because I was legitimately ready to drop kick you through the floor." Said Reigen

"I said I was sorry." Said Ritsu

"Good. I'm glad you realized that you made a mistake and I'm glad that you realize that what Mob and I have is real. I'm not asking you to celebrate it, I'm not asking you to throw us a goddamned parade but I am going to ask you to be respectful." Said Reigen. If he was going to have forever with Mob then he had better make peace with Ritsu. This kid could very well end up being his brother in law.

"Ok…I will. I get it now. Shigeko…she showed me. I believe her." Said Ritsu looking away. Reigen watched him for a moment.

"What, exactly, did Mob show you?" said Reigen after a moment.

"A lot of stuff. It wasn't really showing, it was more like…living." Said Ritsu. Reigen stared before laughing a little, then a little more, then full on laughing out loud.

"It's not funny." Said Ritsu. It was downright traumatic. He might never recover, psychologically, from knowing these things about his big sister.

"It kind of is. That's what it took to get you to believe that Mob and I love each other? Serves you right you little jerk." Said Reigen, no malice in his voice. He was just amused by the sheer absurdity of it. That was what it took.

"…please stop saying that you love her? I get it that you do but it's still kind of weird for me." Said Ritsu. Ok, Reigen wasn't a bad guy but he was still old. He had met Reigen when he was ten and his sister was eleven for God's sake! It was more than a little weird.

"Duly noted. Anyway, I'm going to stop lecturing you now. Whatever Mob showed you is punishment enough." Said Reigen. Ritsu looked grateful. He gripped the other pastry box in his hand. That was for Sho. Now he just had to tell Sho sorry for being so weird and mean and distant.

"Thank you!" said Ritsu. He didn't need to hear any more about how he screwed up.

He turned away for a moment before turning back again. He should make his peace with Reigen. Reigen could very well end up being family someday. He wasn't such a bad guy. The Reigen Arataka in his mind wasn't anything like the Reigen in real life, the one that Shigeko saw.

"Hey Reigen?" asked Ritsu as Reigen was about to enter the outer door.

"What's up?" asked Reigen. He wondered if he should take out another cigarette. No, it wasn't good to smoke so many back to back.

"You're…you're not a bad guy and…and I'm happy that my sister has someone in her life who loves her as much as you do. You're not a bad guy." Said Ritsu

"And you're not an angry brat." Said Reigen. Ritsu smiled.

They were going to be ok, the two of them.


	5. The Kageyama's Ought to Know

Mob hadn't visited her parents in a while. She could count the number of times she had been to the new house on one hand and still have fingers to spare. She wasn't nervous, though, just kind of sad, maybe. She didn't fully know why. She hadn't lived with her parents since she was fourteen and she and Ritsu had that great big fight. She could have come home at any time after that, she just hadn't wanted to.

It wasn't like her parents had thrown themselves on the ground begging her to come home, though.

"Hey, what's wrong? I'm getting a weird feeling from you." asked Reigen. They were approaching what Mob said was her parents new house. They had bought it after their old one burnt down in the big Claw hostile takeover. Well, more like Mob's little brother and his boyfriend burnt it down to that they could hide and regroup but the Kageyama's didn't need to know exactly what had transpired all those years ago.

"Nothing, M-Arataka. I just…I was just thinking about my parents." Said Mob. Reigen reached over and gave her hair a little tug. He had told her that telling the people close to them would be hard and it looked like, based on her little brother's reaction, she was ready to listen.

"It's better we tell them this way, Mob. Instead of letting them find out through Friendbook. This is the kind of thing that needs to be broken to them in person." Said Reigen. Hopefully her parents didn't put him in the hospital for too long. If he ever had a daughter, if he and Mob ever had a daughter, he would have been less than pleased if she were in Mob's place. Reigen knew that he loved Mob, he knew that Mob loved him, but that didn't mean that her parents had to love it. It looked bad, it looked so bad, but for Mob it was worth it.

"Oh, no, I'm not worried about that. I'm just kind of sad…it's just that I don't visit that often and they don't really ask me to visit. Sho spends more time here a week than I have in my whole life." Said Mob

"Well you're a grown woman, now. Your life is your own and if you can't fit your parents into it then you can't fit your parents into it." Said Reigen. In his opinion her parents were the sort of people that shouldn't have been parents. He had been living with her since she was fourteen, she wasn't even a thousandth of the monster her mother made her out to be. The worst that Mob ever did was move the room around on accident and fill their streaming algorithm with her depressing cat shows and long video essays about the minutia of Evangelion.

"Is that why you never visit your parents, Arataka?" asked Mob. That was a good way of looking at it, it certainly made her feel better. Maybe she wasn't such a terrible daughter that her parents were glad to be rid of her. Maybe she was just a grown woman now and she had a lot of important grown up things to do.

"Mob, you know that things aren't great between me and them. Well, mom's ok I guess but dad can go suck a bag of dicks." Said Reigen. He hadn't exactly been a model son to his mother so he had his part to play in their somewhat distant relationship. Dad was worth less than the gum on the bottom of his shoe, though.

"Arataka!" said Mob. That was both mean and kind of gross. How did they get in the bag? Was there just some crazy person with a knife going around cutting them off and sticking them in a garbage bag? The more she thought about it the less sense it made.

"Fine, sorry, that was immature. I don't like my dad, I don't want to talk to my dad, I don't want to put you through talking to my dad, and I don't want our kids meeting my dad." Said Reigen quickly. Everything that man touched turned to shit. He hadn't seen his father since he was in middle school, when his little brother had been born, and he was fine with that. If the man hadn't wanted a son that was only half Japanese then he shouldn't have slept with a western woman.

"…our kids?" asked Mob. She smiled, a little. Reigen could feel the happiness from her. He wasn't ready to…or maybe he was. But she was still too young! And they had just gotten together three days ago! But it was a very pretty picture….

"Not now! I mean, when you're ready to have them." Said Reigen. She had painted a pretty picture for him and he…he did want that with her. He had never wanted that with a woman, not since he was young, but he wanted it with her. Mob. Well, who else?

"When's that going to be?" asked Mob. She wondered when people were ready. She had been someone made to complete the union between her parents, mom had said, and Ritsu was a happy accident. Did you just wake up one day and think to yourself 'this is a good day to make a human'?

"I don't know! I mean, you'd have to be done with school, of course, and uh…" said Reigen. Mob was stubborn. When she got an idea in her head it had to happen. At eleven she had decided that she needed a Master so she sought him out, at fourteen she had decided to become more social so she joined a hardcore workout club despite her lack of athletic ability and probable anemia, at fourteen she had also fought for the world twice and won. Hell, she had run off all over Japan to hunt down Mogami Keiji and had…Reigen didn't know what exactly she had done but she had gotten rid of him. The point of this trip down memory lane was that Mob didn't let go of an idea once it got into her head.

He loved and less than loved that about her.

"We'd have to be married, I think." Said Mob. She wanted that, marriage and a family and all of that. They were already kind of a family. They had been living together for years after all. She wondered when all of the other things she wanted would happen. What was the progression order of this? She wished she knew more married people. She didn't want to ask her parents because they never really had anything nice to say. Really nice, not the polite sort of 'how are your grades? I'm glad you're not failing at school' nice.

"Right…" said Reigen. He wasn't opposed to marrying Mob. He wasn't sure how marrying her would make what they had different but he like the...symbolism…of it. The forever. The party, too. The extremely expensive party.

"But not now. That takes time, right?" said Mob. He was right. She wasn't even done with school yet. That would only take two years. Then in two years they could do all of the stuff she dreamt about. They had forever, after all.

"Yeah. Don't rush, Mob." Said Reigen. She was young, so young. She was at the age where she wanted the world and she wanted it now. He was at the age where he could stop and think of all the variables and logistics to the things he wanted. He wasn't opposed to what Mob wanted but he wanted to get used to the whole Mob being his girlfriend thing first before he went any farther.

They ought to break it to her parents first, before anything else.

"I'm not. I just want to know when. I mean, how do you know when?" asked Mob. Was it one of those things you were just supposed to know?

"When you're stable, Mob. We aren't that stable right now." Said Reigen as they approached her parent's home. Mob stopped and turned to look at him.

"How aren't we stable? I mean we have a home and a business and we love each other." Said Mob. That seemed pretty stable to her.

"We've been a couple for three days, Mob. What's your rush?" asked Reigen. Mob stared at him.

"No rush. I guess that I just want to know…when I guess. I don't understand everything. That's normal for me, though. It's like…I know that's the order that we're supposed to go in and I know that it's what I want but I don't know when it's going to happen." Said Mob staring up at him. Reigen stopped in front of the front gate. He took her hand and looked at her for a while.

"There isn't a schedule, Mob. It's just whenever is best for us but stop rushing. Most of the people in our lives don't even know that there is an 'us' to begin with. Just wait a minute, ok? We've got our whole lives for marriage and kids, Mob. Besides, I just think that you like the making of, anyway." Said Reigen with a drawl. Mob blushed. She did. She really did.

"….maybe…" said Mob. She couldn't help it. She had been dreaming of him for years so why not enjoy everything that reality had to offer.

"Maybe? Well then maybe I'm the one who can't a clue." Said Reigen. Mob blushed. He spoke in that deep sort of way, the way that made it feel like his voice was rolling over her from her toes to the top of her head. She smiled and looked up at him, conscious of how much taller he was than her. How close he was. How nice he smelled. Cigarettes and incense. His hand was in hers, his other hand, the one holding the sake he insisted that they bring to 'keep everyone calm', was against her back. She looked up, he looked down. He was about to kiss her when she felt an aura pass over her.

"Hey! Get in here! You're freaking Ritsu out!" said Sho as he leaned most of his body out of the second floor window. Mob could feel the both of them, Sho had just sort of poked against her.

"Come on, let's get this over with before your brother has another Ritsu freak out." Said Reigen. He let his aura away push away from him. The two espers in the house were the loudest. He could feel amusement from Sho and a generous slathering of discomfort from Ritsu. If he focused further into the house he could feel a weird mixture of stress, annoyance, and...fear? He pulled back into himself, passing over Mob quickly. She was…a lot of things. Worried. Hopeful. Happy.

"Ok, but he won't. He promises that he understands and that he won't ever do that again." Said Mob. She looked up. Well, he hadn't exactly said the words 'I promise' but she knew her brother and she knew that once he apologized he never did the bad thing he did ever again. Like the time when they were little and he took a bite out of her dessert cookie so she wouldn't want it. Or the time when he said that he would never kiss anyone else while he was in a relationship because he had kind of started his relationship with Sho while he was already in a relationship with Rei. Or the time when he beat up all of those guys because he was drunk on power.

"Sho! Get in here before my mom sees! You want to get kicked out?!" Mob heard Ritsu shout before he pulled Sho back into the window.

"The only one spying out this window is you!" yelled Sho as he was dragged back in. Mob smiled. She was happy that Ritsu had someone he cared about and who cared about him. She wondered what the trajectory of their relationship would be. Wherever they ended up she would be there for them.

"Your parents are blind…" muttered Reigen. Willfully blind. Maybe he and Mob just wouldn't say anything. Maybe they'd carry on, get married, and have a dozen little espers and then wait and see when her parents noticed. If they ever noticed.

"Huh?" asked Mob

"Nothing. Come on, let's go in before those two kill each other." Said Reigen. He heard something crash up there. They weren't really fighting, though, he wasn't getting any anger off of them. A lot of love, trust, devotion, annoyance, and a fair bit of a cocktail of discomfort from Ritsu. He didn't blame the kid. He had no idea exactly what Mob had shown him but if it was about how much she loved him he had a decent inkling of what it could be.

"They wouldn't do that, Master." Said Mob before she opened the front gate with her powers. This gate was different. Taller. It didn't have her and Ritsu's names carved into the side. There wasn't any grass in the front yard, it was all concrete. The windows were shaped different. Taller, more rectangular. She walked up the steps and for a moment she reached for her keys. She still had the old house key on her keyring. She had never gotten a key to this house.

Reigen could feel it from her, the melancholy. He heard her pocked jingling before she stopped moving. She didn't have a key, did she? Even he had a key to his mother's house. He reached over and rang the bell a few times.

"Mas-Arataka, don't push it so many times. You'll break it." Said Mob. She heard some movement from behind the door. She heard the knob turn for a moment but then stopped as heavy footsteps filled the house. The door was soon thrown open by Sho of all people.

"Abandon all hope ye who enter here." Said Sho cryptically as he opened the door. Ritsu pushed him aside.

"Ignore him." said Ritsu. Mob looked past them and saw her mother. She had a pinched look on her face, like she was sucking on those extremely sour lemon candies that they sold for one hundred yen a pack at the convenience store.

"Don't you boys know how to answer the door? Honestly!" said Kageyama Hana with a frown. That red haired boy was a terrible influence on her little Ritsu.

"Hi mom." Said Mob simply. Mom looked mostly the same as she had a few days ago. For some reason she had expected her mother to look older. Same old mother.

"Mrs. Kageyama! Hello! Thank you for having us!" said Reigen. He and Mob pushed their way past Sho and Ritsu and slipped out of their shoes. He could feel her mother's eyes on him, or maybe he imagined it. He was getting a clear feeling of annoyance and disapproval but that might have been directed at Sho and Ritsu….or probably just Sho. The way Mob talked about her mother the woman must have thought that Ritsu hung the sun, the moon, and the stars above.

"Thank you both for coming. I was so surprised when Shigeko actually asked to come over for dinner." Said Hana as Reigen handed her the bottle of sake. Middle shelf, at best.

"Should I have not asked?" asked Mob. Maybe she didn't have to ask because they were family. She wouldn't have minded if Ritsu showed up in the middle of the night to eat with her and Master Reigen. She wouldn't even have minded if he woke her up at three in the morning to make him dinner.

"No, Shigeko, it's better that you did. Otherwise I wouldn't have had enough food for everyone." Said Hana. Her daughter was much too old to be so socially stunted. At some point Hana had dropped the ball, she knew it, but in her defense how was she supposed to parent a child that could life cars with her mind?

"It smells delicious. What are we having?" asked Reigen not at all liking the tone he was hearing. Mob didn't mean anything by that, she was very literal. She was her daughter, too, she shouldn't have to ask. He didn't even have to ask his mother if he could come over for dinner. Not that his mother would have minded, she would even ask him to stay forever, probably.

"Just some curry, nothing special. Miso soup, some salad, and some squid. I didn't have a lot of notice." Said Hana

"I'm sure it'll be wonderful. Right, Mob?" asked Reigen. Mob nodded. Mom made good curry. She hoped that there wouldn't be spoons, though. She ate exclusively with chopsticks these days.

"I like your curry, Mom. It's really good." Said Mob. To everyone else then her voice would have been flat. Reigen didn't need his powers to know that Mob was genuine in what she said. He knew her voice and he knew her.

"Well, you haven't had it in a while." Said Hana. Sho stood behind her shaking his head. Do not engage, he tried to convey. She's in a Ritsu's mom mood, he tried to say. Ritsu just hung his head. He had begged, well not literally begged, but asked really hard for mom to be nice tonight. It would be bad if she started off mad. When Shigeko told everyone about…it…mom would definitely get into one of her mom moods. Dad might get upset, too, if he ever came to the table.

"And we look forward to having it soon! What a lovely home, Mrs. Kageyama. Did you decorate it yourself? You have wonderful taste." Said Reigen laying it on as thick as he could. He was a kid again, meeting the parents. I'm a nice guy, he tried to convey. I'm good for your daughter, he tried to convey.

"Why yes, I did. I went with a more modern style than what I used to have, before the fire. I actually made most of these decorations myself. Like this shelf, it's all from things from the hundred yen store…." Said Hana as she led him deeper into her home. She had to occupy herself somehow. One child was out of the house and the other was about to go off to university. The house had been so empty, this knew house. Brand new, a new build they had managed to snatch up after that awful business with the terrorist attack. Thank God that Ritsu was at his friend's house the whole time. What was she thinking leaving him all alone? Something awful could have happened to her little baby boy…and Shigeko.

"First your sister and now your mom. Should I be worried?" asked Sho. Ritsu shoved him, lightly. Mob stared at them. They always seemed to be fighting, even when they weren't fighting. Not that she fully got what Sho meant but if it was Sho it was something worth fighting over, to Ritsu anyway. Sometimes she felt like she was the only person that Ritsu didn't fight with.

"Sho, if you say one more word I will throw you out the window." Said Ritsu. He meant it. It wasn't like he hadn't done it before. Sho had been fine but his mom had instated a ban on them touching the windows after that. If he was warm he should just have her turn on the air-conditioning, she had said.

"If you try to throw me out the window then I'll drag you right out with me." Said Sho reaching over and clasping his hand. Ritsu did a quick check around. Dad was still in the living room on his laptop and mom was showing Reigen the picture frames she had made from measuring sticks and fake flowers. Just Shigeko, she was staring at them, but she stared at everything. He gave Sho's hand a squeeze and pulled it away. Shigeko wouldn't say anything but he didn't want mom to walk back in. He'd have to do some heavy duty explaining. Her poor heart couldn't handle two big shocks in one night.

"So you guys weren't fighting, right?" asked Mob for clarification

"Yeah, we're mortal enemies now. He used my toothbrush this morning and it's been spiraling out of control from there. We do battle at dawn." Said Sho. Ritsu jabbed him in the side. He couldn't help it, big sis was so easy to mess with! She knew he wasn't teasing her to be mean, right?

"Eww Ritsu, that's gross. But you shouldn't be enemies over that. They sell four packs of toothbrushes at the Family Mart, in all colors too. They even have dark blue, if you still want that color." Said Mob. Boys were so weird, sometimes. It was like they had a need to fight over everything. Why would sharing toothbrushes matter, anyway? They probably kissed all the time, they were a couple after all. Not that she wanted to think about her little brother kissing anyone. No matter how tall he got he would always be her little brother.

"Sho was just being a jerk. Ignore him and maybe he'll get a clue." Said Ritsu. Shigeko didn't know how to read tones or sarcasm or stuff like that so messing with her was just mean.

"Ritsu, don't tell Sho to get a clue. That's not nice." Said Mob. She hated that phrase, get a clue. Some people had trouble with that and there was no shame in it.

"See? Big sis can appreciate my brand of humor." Said Sho

"They sell your brand of humor at the discount outlet department store." Said Ritsu

"They sell a lot of nice things there. I was there today, with Arataka. They have a lot of really nice futons. We got a takoyaki maker, too." Said Mob. She didn't think that they needed one but Arataka had been really excited. They could have takoyaki for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and the weird fourth meal that you ate at two a.m. when you woke up hungry.

"Seriously? You guys are going to end up weighing a thousand pounds." Said Sho. If you were eating enough takoyaki to necessitate a takoyaki maker then you were eating way too much takoyaki.

"I don't think so. Arataka is a little fatter than he used to be but still pretty skinny. I mean, he mostly eats junk food all the time." Said Mob. She wondered how he could be so skinny. She was normal sized, not fat but not skinny. No muscles, though. All those years of body improvement club had done nothing to improve her body.

"So you got a new futon?" asked Ritsu. He didn't want to think about Reigen Arataka. He had just gotten to the point where he could look at the man, he didn't want to think about everything that he knew about the guy. Sho raised an eyebrow. Dammit! Sho could read him like a book.

"Yeah, Arataka and I did. We don't both fit on my futon or his bed so he got a futon and now we have a guest bed. Hey, do you guys want to have a sleepover? We have a guest bed now." Said Mob. Ritsu felt the last lingering threads of his sanity begin to snap. Right. Couple stuff. He needed a drink, where did mom put that sake?

"I don't think Ritsu's poor little heart could handle it. He's just now over the whole 'urge to kill' thing. I'll crash at your place one of these days, though. Anything's better than my mom's house." Said Sho. She still looked at him like he was dad, like he was a monster just waiting to happen.

"Master says that- I mean Arataka says that you can't stay over without Ritsu because of the time you tried to make caramel and set the kitchen on fire. Also because you went through Arataka's search history." Said Mob as she followed Ritsu. They sat down at the dining table, Sho laughing the whole way.

"If he didn't want me to look through his history then he should have deleted it." Said Sho as he pulled out his chair and flopped down. He was to the right of Ritsu. His parents always sat across. Now there were two folding chairs next to each other. His parents had put the leaf in the table because of 'the sheer number of unexpected guests we're forced to accommodate' as Ritsu's mom had put it.

"Why do you keep trying to make caramel? You don't know how to make caramel!" said Ritsu. It had taken all day to get the kitchen back to normal before mom and dad came home. They had to repaint half the kitchen and retile parts of the floor.

"They sell them at the store, Sho. Wouldn't that be easier?" asked Mob. Master Reigen, no, Arataka, always said that there was no point in cooking foods that they could get from the outside world. They weren't cavemen, they had modern food technology, he had said.

"He gets bored and does dumb stuff." Said Ritsu with a shrug

"I wouldn't be bored if you were around more during the day." Said Sho kicking him lightly.

"You know I have to go to school." Said Ritsu

"Why? I don't. The only thing that matters is the exams and I can sit those on my own without wasting my time at school. Back me up, big sis." Said Sho. Ritsu rolled his eyes. He may have loved Sho but he could be so ridiculous.

"School is never a waste of time, Sho. There's friends and clubs and the cultural festival and sports day. School is great and I miss it a little but I think that I'll have fun at my new school." Said Mob. She hoped that she would. The only one of her friends going with her was Onigawara and they weren't exactly very good friends. Everyone else was going on to real school, not two year school, even though Arataka had said that two year school was just as good as four year school.

"Seriously? Big sis, this is not backing me up." Said Sho

"She's going to back me up before she backs you up. She's my actual sister after all." Said Ritsu

"Don't be sad, Sho. When you guys get married I'll be your actual sister, too." Said Mob simply. Ritsu and Sho shared a look before Ritsu began to panic. He could still hear dad clacking away at his laptop and mom was talking over, in step by step detail, how she had made the videogame shelf from painted plastic bins, hot glue, and stamps with all of Ritsu's favorite characters…from when he was ten. Sho thought it was adorable, though, as he had often said.

"Not so loud!" said Ritsu. Still, she could have been heard and then mom would ask questions and she'd ban Sho from the house and ban him from seeing Sho. He didn't think that he could go back to being without him for more than a day. He just sort of appeared, stayed, and then occasionally went off somewhere before coming back.

"Still not entirely legal." Said Sho. Well, they could have a big party and stuff but they couldn't sign any government papers. He wouldn't mind the big party. Everyone coming and seeing that, yes, they were a couple. Hiding sucked. He didn't know why Ritsu cared so much what his parents thought. Big sis didn't. She could be such a badass without even trying, sometimes. The way Ritsu told it she had just packed her bags and left without a single word. He hadn't even had the courage to leave dad, not until he was so obviously becoming a supervillain.

"That's dumb. If I can get married then you should be able to be married." Said Mob. The way she saw it was that love was love. It didn't matter who the two people in love were, they just loved each other and love was the greatest of all feelings. Ritsu should be allowed to be as happy as she was. Even happier, if he could manage it.

"….you and Reigen are getting married?" asked Ritsu. Reigen was a good guy, he knew this now, and Shigeko loved him more than anything else in the entire world, but wasn't that moving kind of fast? Kind of way too fast? Why would they get married so fast? His eyes darted to her stomach. Was she…? Could she be….? He needed air, lots of air.

"Not yet. He says that there isn't a set schedule for this stuff and that we couldn't until we were more stable and I was done with school. I'm only going for two years so after that I guess we'll get married and stuff." Said Mob. Ritsu was turning a weird color. She hoped that he wasn't going to explode again. She hated it when he got into his Ritsu moods.

"Kids?" asked Sho. He knew that look. That was the Ritsu is about to faint from shock, look. His mom got it, too, sometimes. Like the first time she had caught him sleeping in Ritsu's bed with him. She had been talking for years about getting him his own futon. She thought that he was an orphan or something and that he and Ritsu were cuddling because he had emotional pain. He'd let her think whatever she wanted as long as he got those sweet, sweet, Ritsu cuddles.

"What about them?" asked Mob. She liked them, they were nice people, when you were a grown up. She was glad not to be one, anymore, though. She was much happier as an adult.

"Are you guys going to have any?" asked Sho. Ritsu made a weird sort of yelping noise that he hadn't planned on making. He stared at her stomach. Was it any bigger? How long until girls got bigger? Or women, rather.

He didn't want to think about this.

"We are. I want to have a little boy. I'm going to call him Shigeo, but that's for later. We've only been a couple for three days. Are you and Ritsu going to have any kids?" asked Mob. She hoped that they did. Ritsu's kids would be great kids. He was a great kid, after all.

"You know, we keep on trying but neither of us has gotten pregnant yet-" said Sho before Ritsu covered his mouth. Mom was still talking. Now she was talking about how she decorated the entire downstairs bathroom for only two thousand yen. Reigen was saying 'uh-huh' a lot. Dad had turned the TV up.

"Sho! Shut! Up!" said Ritsu, his hand covering Sho's mouth. Shigeko didn't need to know about that. Mom and dad didn't need to know about that. Nobody in the world needed to know about that.

"But you're both boys, you can't. You'd have to-" said Mob

"Sister…please…let's talk about literally anything else." Said Ritsu shaking his head. He didn't want anyone to overhear and he didn't want his sister poking around in that area of his life.

"Ok Brother. Is dinner almost ready?" asked Mob. It really did smell nice in there. Familiar. It smelled like when she was very small and she wanted to help but mom wouldn't let her so she got upset and the kitchen shook. It smelled like all the times she had bent her spoons on accident because she felt like she was under a microscope and the other her was reaching out for some kind of control. It smelled like long nights at the table trying to figure out her math homework and falling asleep only to wake up to Ritsu having done it for her.

"It's been ready. Mom just likes showing the house off." Said Ritsu. Mom had gotten really into decorating after they got the new house. Maybe because they had lost everything in the old house. He didn't know what was so upsetting, it was just stuff. They didn't have any priceless family heirlooms or antiques.

"It looks nice. I'm glad you guys like it here." Said Mob. This was a nice house, she thought. Very clear, lots of decorations. Mom always said that she couldn't have nice things because of how her powers were so out of control. It was nice that her parents could be happy, now, because she was gone.

"You would have liked it here, too." Said Ritsu. Mob shook her head.

"I could never be happy here. I hate being in places where people are afraid of me. I don't like to go where I'm not wanted." Said Mob. Mom and dad hadn't stopped her from leaving so they didn't want her around. They had always thought of her as a monster.

"Why not? You should try it, it's fun." Said Sho. He went wherever he wanted, he did whatever he wanted, and he was beholden to nobody but himself. This was the life. If not for one little thing it would have been perfect.

"No, I don't like making people unhappy. When other people are unhappy then I'm unhappy. I'm happy now, though, and I'm not coming to live here ever Ritsu. I know you want me to live with the family and I know that you miss when we were together all the time but I can't live like that anymore. I'm not a monster and I don't want to live in a place where people treat me like one." Said Mob. She knew fully well what he wanted but she wouldn't give it to him. Her own happiness mattered, too, even though Ritsu was the best little brother in the world and probably the most amazing person ever.

"I know you're not coming back…you're with Reigen now. I'm ok with that. I'm ok with him." said Ritsu. Mob nodded. He still was talking like he got a say in this but she was happy that he didn't hate Arataka anymore, and that he wasn't going to go off into one of his Ritsu moods again.

"I was never not ok with him." said Sho. He liked Reigen from the beginning. He was kind of obnoxious sometimes but he could be a total badass when he wanted to. Hell, he tried to punch dad out. What'd he say? Oh yeah, 'Brute force, bastard!' and then just punched him. It didn't do anything but it was still really badass that he would walk into certain death like that. Plus the whole Salt Splash thing was hilarious.

"I'm ok with you now." Said Mob. She hadn't trusted Sho in the beginning. He had burnt down the house, after all. He also had a tendency, in the beginning, to just show up places. Sometimes she and Arataka would come to work and find him watching TV. Sometimes Ritsu would wake up to Sho sleeping next to him. Sometimes Teru would wake up to Sho having destroyed his kitchen trying to cook. Mob came around, though. Sho was lonely, she thought sometimes. He must have been sad, too. They were using his dad for experiments after all and his dad had been a super villain before that.

"You weren't ok with me? Big sis…come on!" said Sho. He knew that she didn't fully like him in the beginning. She came around fast. Big sis liked everyone, even that mean pink haired girl who made her go all super saiyan.

"Mob's ok with everyone, right Mob?" said Reigen as he was led into the dining room. If the wide world of accounting ever bored Kageyama Hana Reigen figured that she had a future in interior design.

"Yes. I like everyone I know." Said Mob. Reigen sat down in a folding chair next to her. She leaned a little into him. Her mother hurried past them.

"Even me." Said Sho. Big sis looked happier. It was in her eyes and her aura. Her face didn't really do a lot of…face stuff. He had seen her smile for real, it was nice he figured. He had seen her do that crazy smile she did when she was about to have her version of a Ritsu mood. That was less nice.

"We all like you, you poor little thing." Said Hana as she began to set up the dining table. Poor little thing, all alone in the world. Strange boy, obnoxious, but he was her son's best friend and she would make an effort. Besides, if he was spending all of his time with his best friend then he didn't have any free time to spend getting into trouble with girls.

"Mom!" said Ritsu. His parents thought that Sho was an orphan for some reason. Probably because he had pretty much moved in years ago. He had a mom, it was just awkward between them.

"Oh he knows I don't mean anything bad by it." Said Hana as she brought more food to the table. She patted the red haired boy on the head. He was an alright boy, a little strange, but alright. Much nicer than that girl Ritsu had brought home all those years ago.

"Yeah, Ritsu, I'm a poor little thing. I need all the love I can get." Said Sho sticking out his tongue childishly. Mob nodded.

"Sho needs a lot of love, like a plant." Said Mob. She felt kind of bad for Sho. Her parents were just a little mean but his dad had gone full on shonen supervillain and his mom didn't really seem to be there for him. When she had a kid she'd be the best parent that she could ever be. People were like plants and they needed love and food and water and sunshine or they would never grow.

"We all love you, Sho." Said Reigen as deadpanned as he could. He liked the kid enough. Kind of strange, kind of annoying at times, but he was one of Mob's friends and he had to like all of Mob's friends for the sake of his own sanity. If he was going to be with Mob forever then he'd have to like the people in her life.

"Some more than others." Said Sho as some food was plated for him. He looked over at Ritsu through the corner of his eye. Ritsu kicked him under the table. What was he so worried about? His parents were just as dense as his sister.

"So! How has everyone been?" asked Reigen. He could see the battle that was brewing there and, frankly, the Kageyamas could only have one bomb dropped on them at once. One would upset them, two would kill them from the shock. He took Mob's hand under the table.

"We've all been wonderful! Right?" asked Hana as she sat down. Her husband made an affirmative noise. Ritsu shrugged. Sho nodded as he shoved food in his mouth. Such a poor, hungry little thing.

"Well I had a wonderful day. I got a great deal at the department store." Said Hana to fix the atmosphere left over from everyone's lack luster response.

"How much did you spend?" asked her husband, Ichimaro. He didn't even look up from his work.

"Oh don't be like that! Barely anything at all. Besides, it was worth it. Now will you close that thing? We're at the table." Said Hana reaching over to her husband's laptop. He batted her hand away.

"Do you like having food to put on this table? Then let me work." Said Ichimaro. Honestly. His work never ended, not like hers.

"What'd you get?" asked Reigen. The quickest way to put Mob's mother at ease, he decided, was to ask her about her crafting projects. He needed to keep her at ease for the bombshell he and Mob were about to drop.

"A present for Sho." Said Hana clapping her hands. Sho looked over at her, his cheeks bulging with food like a hamsters. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"For me? You didn't have to, Ritsu's mom." Said Sho. Ritsu's mom could be a little much but she was nice enough. Not like his mom. His mom didn't really seem to care one way or another about him. Dad burnt her out, he decided. He burnt her out on caring.

"Yeah Mom, you really shouldn't have." Said Ritsu with a groan. At least mom liked Sho, that was good. Maybe when the truth finally came out she wouldn't be too upset. Still, she should be putting that effort into trying to reconcile with Shigeko. That fight was years ago, they should have made up already. Besides, Shigeko was her actual kid!

"Nonsense, I wanted to. I got Sho his own futon so now you two don't have to share a bed anymore!" said Hana. She surveyed the table. Well, at least Sho looked happy. Her son looked like he wanted to both laugh and cry. Shigeko was as detached as ever. Her husband was just as detached, mired in his work once again. Apple, tree. The man, Reigen, looked like he was choking a little. She topped off his water glass.

"Thank you." Said Reigen stifling a laugh. He couldn't help it, Mob's little brother looked hilarious. It was like he was sucking on an entire bag of lemon candies. How was this woman so willfully blind?

"We got a new futon today, too." Said Mob. So she had seen her mother at the store. She had thought that it might have just been a woman who looked a lot like her mother. Regular people didn't have auras, they carried their AT fields on the inside, so it was easy to mistake one person for another from a distance.

"So I did see you two! What was the occasion?" asked Hana. She had felt her daughter before she had seen her. She wanted to say hello but didn't. She so rarely ran into Shigeko out in the world. She hadn't know what to say. She was with Reigen, too, and the atmosphere around them was strange. They stood closer, talked quietly. It reminded her, somewhat, of her and Ichimaro back when they went shopping together. Since she was already so far off the mark she had just let them be.

"Arataka needed a futon." Said Mob simply. That was why there were there after all. Reigen drank his soup quickly, not able to meet anyone's eyes. Her father was giving him the side eye. Her mother was confused, it felt like, but it was harder to get a feel off of regular people.

"This is really good soup! Isn't this good soup everyone?" asked Reigen. Don't open with that, Mob. The last thing you want to do is open by putting thoughts of the two of us in bed together. In fact, leave beds out of the equation for now!

"I agree, it's great soup, Ritsu's mom. And thanks for the bed. I'll sleep really well tonight." Said Sho. Not that he intended on sleeping on his own. He didn't mind being crammed into Ritu's bed with him.

"That'll be good for the two of you. Sleep deprivation causes irritability, you boys know. I'm glad you two made up, though, this morning. Such fighting last night…" said Hana. She had no idea what they were fighting about but she knew it had to do with Shigeko. Maybe her son's friend had developed feelings for Shigeko and it upset Ritsu. Well, that would certainly have been an awkward situation and her daughter was the queen of creating awkward situations.

"Boys fight, it's what they do, Hana." Said Ichimaro not looking up. There could have been a million reasons for those two to fight and it was none of his business. He was just grateful that his son had a friend. With the way Hana babied him he had been worried that Ritsu could end up as one of those boys who locked themselves in their homes and depended on their mothers for the rest of their lives.

"You and Sho were fighting really badly?" asked Mob. She didn't want to cause Ritsu any trouble, especially in his relationship. He needed Sho and Sho needed him just like she needed Arataka and Arataka needed her.

"It's fine, sister. It had just been a…rough day." Said Ritsu. Mob nodded. It had been. She maybe shouldn't have shown Ritsu so much, actually yes she really shouldn't have shown Ritsu so much, but she couldn't control it like that. Also, sometimes you had to be hard on people. It worked, he finally got it, but there had been a cost. Good thing they had made up. She didn't know if she could live with herself if she had made Ritsu and Sho break up.

"A rough day? Ritsu, your days are never rough, I make sure of it. You've been doing so wonderfully lately, too." Said Hana. She smoothed down any bump in his road. It was her job as his mother. He never wanted for anything, never did any chores, and she even let his best friend stay over whenever he wanted. It had probably had something to do with Shigeko, why the boys had been so upset. Probably something romantic, from what she had overheard. Maybe Shigeko had been the one to confess, Hana had heard the word confess used a few times. It would make sense, Shigeko had been without a boyfriend for a year or so. Hana wondered what happened to that blonde boy she had been seeing. How had Shigeko managed to mess that one up? It wasn't like anyone else would ever take interest in her. She was much too plain, much too awkward, and now had even deferred her entire future. Where had she gone wrong with that one?

"If you say so, mom." Said Ritsu. He had been wracked with guilt, mostly, and also severely weirded out all night. Then he had spent the day apprehensive about the storm that was coming and worried about how, exactly, his parents would react.

"Ritsu, don't be like that. You've been wonderful! You've achieved so much and you're only seventeen! Ritsu scored so highly on his practice test that he can get into the top universities in the country. Kyoto, Tokyo, Tohoku! Ritsu you've been telling people, right?" asked Hana. He should be prouder of his accomplishments. He always downplayed himself for his sister's sake. It wasn't his fault that Shigeko just couldn't apply herself academically.

"Mom, you're making people feel bad." Said Ritsu. Shigeko, possibly, but she was ok with everything so who knew with her. Sho, probably. He didn't like to show it but Ritsu knew that he felt worried that he'd be left behind. It wasn't Ritsu's fault that he didn't do well, though. He had never gone to real school in his life.

"No I'm not honey. Remember, Sho, it was just a practice test. You have plenty of time to study even harder and do even better. Ritsu will help you. You boys can just keep holing up in Ritsu's room and get back to cramming. Next time you'll do much better." Said Hana. He tried so hard, that poor little thing. He needed someone to look out for him. Not like Shigeko, not that she was replacing Shigeko, but Shigeko had never really tried at anything. She had always just sort of waltzed through life with that look of quiet detachment. She should be more like Ritsu's little friend. That boy was certainly full of passion.

"Ritsu told me. I'm proud of him. You did really well, Ritsu." Said Mob smiling at her brother. Her real smile, not her picture smile. He could really go on to reach his full potential and be somebody important. She would be there to cheer him on every step of the way. She hoped that whatever kid she had could be even half the person that Ritsu was.

"Are you still not going onto a real university, Shigeko?" asked Hana tersely. Mob nodded.

"Yes, I'm still only going to junior college for two years." Said Mob. Her scores hadn't been that good and she didn't want to be in school for longer than was necessary. She liked the friends and clubs part of school but hated the studying and tests part of school.

"You should really reconsider, Shigeko. You'll never be able to get a good job with only two years at junior college. Honestly, those things are relics of a different time. You've got opportunities that my mother and I could barely even dream of. You should just take the test again and then go to a four year university. Junior college is for girls who only want to work for a couple years before they get married. You've got to be practical." Said Hana with a dramatic sniff. Sho stifled a laugh. Ritsu took a deep breath. Reigen squeezed Mob's hand and plotted the quickest route to the exit in case Ritsu got his temper from his parents.

"But I am-" said Mob before she was cut off. That was sort of her plan. Go to school, learn how to help run the business better, and then it would be business as usual.

"Shigeko's doing just fine, Hana. She's had a steady job for years now." Said Ichimaro. He was proud of both of his children. Ritsu was his pride and joy, his only son and a person who excelled at everything. His daughter on the other hand might not have even had a shot at a tenth of the success her brother had but she was making the best of life with the hand that fate had dealt her. She had managed to find and keep employment, which was more than he or Hana ever thought that she would be capable of with her condition.

"It's not a career, Ichimaro. Shigeko you should try and be more like Ritsu, really. Just put in the effort and stop being so detached all the time. You're going to have to put in twice as much effort as everyone else as it is with your…condition." Said Hana. A quirk of genetics, a cruel twist of fate. Whatever the reason for it her daughter had been cursed with uncontrollable supernatural powers and a naturally dull and even standoffish personality. One alone would have been bad enough but both.

"Mom, Shigeko's fine." Said Ritsu. He did not want mom to get on this rant again. He had no desire to listen to his mother, the greatest monologist in Japan, start to dig into Shigeko like that.

"Big sis is awesome, Ritsu's right!" said Sho. It was dumb. Big sis had saved the world! She didn't need a job or anything like that. She was doing the whole exorcist thing and it was working for her.

"You boys are so sweet to her but this is something that she needs to hear. Shigeko, you're not a little girl anymore. You're a woman now and it's time to start acting like one. Two year school is for girls who are planning on getting married and having children. You need to think of an actual plan for your life because we both know that a life like that is not in the cards for you." Said Hana. She slammed her drinking glass down. She was suddenly his by what felt like a tsunami of rage. She saw Reigen tense and Shigeko put her hand over his.

"I'm fine, Mob, I'm fine." Said Reigen as he drank his own water. Not in the cards for Mob? Not in the fucking cards!? He was sitting right there! Mob was an amazing person and her own goddamned mother couldn't see it. The woman was blind, plain and simple. She couldn't even see what was happening right under her nose in her own house so how was she supposed to see Mob's worth?!

"See? You even still let people call you by that embarrassing little nickname! Shigeko, you've got to so some heavy duty growing up!" said Hana still angry. Her husband got up and grabbed he sake bottle and some cups from the liquor hutch. He knew this side of his wife well.

"My life is my own." Said Mob simply. She was living her own life and she would do what she wanted with it.

"So you're just going to run it into the ground?" asked Hana as a cup of sake was placed in front of her. Two more cups were poured and the bottle left on the table. Sho reached over but Ritsu slapped his hand away. They were too young and he didn't want to piss his mom off any more than she had already been. Reigen downed his cup and poured himself another. He needed to calm down because he was throwing his own feelings around. No, not around, at the person who was making him feel them.

"No, not at all. I'm very happy and I'm doing very well. That's what I wanted to tell you guys." Said Mob. Her life was her own and just because her mother didn't approve, and she so rarely approved of anything anyway, didn't mean that there was anything wrong with the way she was living. She watched Arataka down two glasses of sake in quick succession before nudging his cup away with her powers. This was not the time to get drunk.

"You're counting my drinks now?" asked Reigen feeling better. Crap. Too much. If he was feeling it now then he had just drank way too much. He was such a lightweight. Well, if his mother in law ever drove him to alcoholism it would at least be a cheap habit.

"You get drunk easily, Arataka." Said Mob. She didn't want him to fall down or throw up or anything like that. He hated to be embarrassed.

"Who gets drunk off two cups of sake?" asked Sho. Ritsu elbowed him in the ribs.

"Not that I would know anything about that, being underage and all." Finished Sho trying to look like the picture of innocence and purity.

"Fine, I'll stop at two if it'll put your mind at ease." Said Reigen. She was right, it would do him no good to get stinking drunk in her parents' house on the night she's going to tell them that she was in a possibly lifelong relationship with the old fraud she's spent the last seven years of her life working for.

"Thank you, Arataka. We have sake at home if you want to drink more later." Said Mob, her mind now on her current conversation. Now her father was looking up from his work with one cocked eyebrow. Her mother was staring, her mouth opened so wide it looked like she was trying to catch flies. Ritsu was looking down at his food and pushing it around with his spoon like he was looking for something. Sho was looking at everyone, his head darting around like a bird's.

"Nah, I'll be fine, Mob." Said Reigen. He knew those looks. She had used his given name more than once. Given names meant intimacy, more intimacy than 'Shishou' ever did.

"…you should have people use your given name, Shigeko, and you should be more careful when using the given names of others." Said Hana after a moment. Her daughter was just making another social faux pas, that was all. Shigeko thought that because she was legally an adult now she could use anyone's given name. That man should have been Reigen to her now, not Arataka.

"I don't want people to call me Shigeko. I'm Mob and I want to be called Mob. It's my life and my name and I'll be called whatever I want and also it's Arataka's name and if wants me to use it then I'll use it." Said Mob. Hana heard a whining, petulant tone when there wasn't one. Maybe she wished for one, maybe she wished for a normal daughter who whined and stomped and **emoted**. What she got was this person, this doll. This person who's voice was always level, who's face was always frozen. Had been frozen since childhood.

"Honestly Shigeko-" said Hana before she was cut off.

"Hana, enough. Don't antagonize her, you know what can happen." Said Ishimaro in a warning tone. Shigeko's condition made her unstable. The last thing he wanted was to see his only son unconscious in a hospital bed again.

"…you don't have to be afraid of me." Said Mob after a moment. They were still afraid and they would always be afraid and she just had to accept that. She felt someone taking her hand. Arataka. She felt calm feelings rushing through her. Oh. She had been sad.

"Mob, nobody's afraid of you. How could anybody be afraid of you?" asked Reigen softly. Ritsu was looking down at his food like he was afraid that it was going to run away. Both of her parents were openly staring. He knew what this looked like and frankly he didn't care. Mob was hurting. Her own father had all but called her a monster, something dangerous to everyone, at the goddamned dinner table.

"Because I'm me." Said Mob. Softly. Her hair began to act up and Reigen smoothed it back down.

"You're awesome, big sis! Don't get like that!" said Sho. He didn't get her parents one bit. They had created the most powerful being on Earth, they should be patting themselves on the back every day instead of being afraid of her. Well, maybe it was different for normal people. His mom was afraid of him and Teru's parents were so afraid that they had put a entire ocean between themselves and their son. Well, if Sho ever had kids somehow and they turned out to be super power espers, or just regular espers, he'd pat himself on the back every day and not be afraid at all.

"I'm not afraid of you, sister." Said Ritsu. Not anymore. He was almost an adult now and he had left that petty jealousy and fear behind long ago. Shigeko was his sister and yes, she was super powerful, but she was also a good person. Mom and dad were normal people so all that they could see was her power and it made them feel powerless and scared. If he ever had a kid, somehow, mom and dad would probably be scared of it, too.

"We aren't afraid of you, Shigeko, just your…condition." Said Hana. Condition made it sound better, like it was something medical. Something manageable. Not something like what it was in reality. Not the monster that lurked within her daughter, the power to crush cars and throw people.

"There's nothing wrong with Mob." Said Reigen, a slight tone to his voice. Maybe it was the sake making him braver, maybe it was the fact that he was not going have Mob relapse. There was nothing at all wrong with Mob. She was a human being and didn't have anything at all wrong with her. She was not the monster that her parents made her out to be.

"Her name is Shigeko." Said Hana matching his tone. Ritsu and Sho looked at each other. They both knew that there was a full on war brewing now, not just a battle.

"My name is whatever I want it to be." Said Mob. Mob. She was Mob. Arataka squeezed her hand again. Her voice may have sounded flat but that was just to someone who hadn't spent the past four years listening to her. She was hurt. She was stressed. He didn't need powers to know that. He tried to give her all the calm emotions he could. Just because she wasn't exploding didn't mean that she wasn't hurting.

"Your given name is just that, Shigeko, given. That's the name your father and I gave you. You need to grow out of that childish nickname. You're an adult now, a grown woman, and it's time you started acting your age." Said Hana

"My life is my own." Said Mob again. Ritsu winced. To anyone who couldn't see auras her voice was as flat as ever. He saw that spike. He felt that spike. That spike was not the preamble of anything good.

"Your life is your own but you live in this world with other people, Shigeko, including your family. What you do is a reflection of us. Do you even know what you're going to do with your life? Or do you just plan on carrying on the way you always have?" asked Hana. Reigen wanted to pull Mob away. She didn't need this kind of stress. He didn't need this kind of stress. Nobody needed this kind of stress. This was like dealing with his mother at her worst. At worse than her worst.

"Both." Said Mob. She was going to have everything she ever wanted, which was everything she had already but better. Why didn't mom think that she could have that? Because of her powers. Because of who she was. Her life was her own, she needed to remember that. She had tried living her life according to what she thought that she could be.

"That's not a plan, Shigeko. You need to think of how you're going to support yourself for real. You think that you can just stay with him forever? You aren't a child." Said Hana. Reigen held her hand tighter. He decided, for once in his life, not to run his mouth. He knew that the second he opened his mouth he was going to say something that he would regret. Telling Mob's mother to fuck off would definitely be something that he would end up regretting.

"I have half the business. Arataka and I are doing very well. We support each other." Said Mob. There was an edge to her voice audible only to those who actually knew her. Her parents, on the other hand, did not hear this edge.

"Half? Shigeko, we're so proud of you. You're doing better than your mother and I ever imagined was possible ." Said her father. Half a business at the age of eighteen. Not a salary woman but an owner. There, his daughter was successful and he could rest easy.

"Half of what, that's the question." Said Hana. She had no idea how much half would be but she didn't imagine it was very much. The office itself was nothing much to look at and they only had one other employee and one of Shigeko's school friends who called herself the secretary.

"We make about….how much do we make, exactly?" asked Mob. She wasn't exactly sure. They had two hundred thousand yen a month after they did the payroll and the bills. She wasn't sure how much they took home a year, exactly. She didn't handle the taxes.

"About six to seven million yen a year." Said Reigen with a shrug. That was before taxes and overhead but it was much more than they used to make. A lot a lot more than they used to make. Passive income, the key was passive income. That and, well, actual psychic powers.

"Holy fucking shit." Said Sho. Ritsu kicked him.

"Language." Said Hana absently. Well, that was more than she had ever thought that Shigeko would ever be capable of making. Half of that, the and a half million yen a year was nothing to sneeze at.

"See? I am supporting myself. I do have a plan." Said Mob. So that was how much they made a year. That was pretty good. She wondered where all the money went. Probably back into the business.

"Then I suppose you have it all figured out, right? I just wish that you would do something more with your life but that is a decent amount of money. I suppose that you're stuck now, right? I suppose that you have no desire to go to university and make something more of your life…and don't you dare say that your life is your own again." Said Hana. She didn't know what more she wanted for her daughter, just that it would be something, well, more than what she had at fourteen. A normal life. She needed to finally fully accept the fact that her daughter could never and would never live a normal life.

"I'm happy. Arataka and I are happy and we'll always be happy. This is all that I want for me." Said Mob. Hana's eyes swung between the two of them before resting on Shigeko's hand. Shigeko's hand clasped underneath Reigen's. No. She was just misreading the atmosphere.

"I think you should just tell them, Mob." Said Reigen. No use in dragging it out. Hopefully her mom had gotten most of her rage out.

"Tell us what, Shigeko?" asked Hana. No. impossible. There was no way in hell that what she was thinking was the truth.

"Arataka and I are a couple now. I thought you ought to know." Said Mob simply. There was a beat, then another, and another.

"I think you broke her." Said Sho. Ritsu's mom was turning a weird color. Kind of like the time he tied that string around his thumb and forgot about it all day.

"Mom….?" Asked Ritsu. He didn't think that it was healthy for a human being to turn that color. It was like the time Sho almost lost his thumb because he kept cutting off the blood flow with string and forgetting about it. Why he had done that Ritsu had no idea.

"No." said Hana simply. This was not happening. This would not be allowed to happen.

"Yes." said Mob just as simply. There was no room to argue. It was a simple statement.

"Uh…Mob? Maybe we should…" asked Reigen. He had seen that look in his own mother's eyes on several occasions. That was the 'Arataka, you fucked up' look. That was the 'I'm driving away for a few hours because I can't stand the sight of you' look.

"I said no. I forbid this. I will not allow-" said Hana finding her voice. This was not right. Shigeko was….this was…she had trusted him! She had trusted him with her daughter and **THIS** was what he had done with her trust?!

"What do you mean by allow? This is my life, not yours. I'm not a little kid anymore and I can make my own choices and this is what I choose." Said Mob in her usual monotone. She had no tone. She was not being smart or fresh or cheeky. That was an honest to whatever God was out there question. To Hana it didn't sound like it.

"How dare you! I am your mother!" said Hana slamming her hands on the table. The picture of water tipped over but Mob caught it with her powers and righted it. Hana gasped and put her hands in her lap. Reigen took a couple deep centering breaths and retreated into Mob's aura, her feelings. It was just too chaotic out there.

"Mom, Shigeko didn't mean anything by that." Said Ritsu calmly. He knew his sister and she wasn't capable of mouthing off to anyone. She was just blunt. Mom and dad weren't used to her anymore.

"Yeah Ritsu's mom, big sis is just dense." Said Sho trying to be helpful. Mob nodded. They knew what she meant, they spent enough time with her to understand her.

"Boys…eat your dinner upstairs. I have something I need to discuss with your sister." Said Hana trying to keep her voice level. Shigeko lost control when she was upset. Shigeko could lose control at any moment.

"But mom-" said Ritsu. Well first of all Sho wasn't her kid even though she liked to pretend that he was and second of all Shigeko was his sister and he needed to be there for her. He also needed to be there to be the interpreter because mom tended to hear what she wanted to hear in regular conflicts and this was both bigger than a regular conflict and involved Shigeko, someone who missed a few social skills classes in life.

"Go upstairs, the adults need to talk." Said Ichimaro in a tone that left no room for discussion. Ritsu knew that tone well. That was the 'there is a screaming match on the horizon' tone. That was the 'Ritsu go stay with your friends while your mother and I talk' tone. Ritsu got up and pulled Sho by the back of his shirt.

"But I want to see the fight!" said Sho as he allowed himself to be dragged away. This looked like it was going to be a doozy. They, or at least one of them, needed to be there incase big sis lost control. She looked fine but who knew what was building up inside of her like a shook up can of soda?

"Goodbye Ritsu, goodbye Sho." Said Mob as they left. This wasn't a fight, Mob wasn't yelling back. This was just mom getting upset. That was normal for her. She felt Arataka in her aura. He was worried. Right, he wasn't used to mom's yelling.

"Shigeko, I will not allow this." Said Hana as she heard the boys finish climbing the stairs. They were too young for this and Ritsu didn't need the stress.

"You said that already." Said Mob. Mom said no but she had no power over her anymore so it didn't matter. Reigen reached over and gave her hand a squeeze. This was rough, on him. He could feel four eyes, two glares, attempting to cut through him. He told Mob that this wouldn't be easy. He would have gladly taken her little brother having another Ritsu freak-out in the office over this.

"I trusted you." Said Hana glaring at the man holding her daughter's, her eighteen year old daughter's, hand. How could she have been so naïve? How could she have been so quick to pass on responsibility for Shigeko? How could she have been so stupid?!

"I've done nothing to break your trust." Said Reigen in an even tone. Regardless of how he felt about Mob before, and he was ready admit to himself that he had feelings for her in the past, he had never acted on anything he felt. He hadn't done a single thing to ever hurt Mob. In fact, he had done more for her over the years than her own two parents.

"No? What do you call this then?!" asked Hana. She heard her husband sigh beside her. She could have really used some backup!

"Two adults in a relationship, and I know what you must think but this relationship is only three days old. I would never do anything to hurt Mob. I tried to talk her out of it but she was insistent. This is what she wants, this is what I want, and we just wanted to tell the people closest to us in person because, well, it's not the sort of thing I'd imagine either of you would have enjoyed reading about on Friendbook. We told you and we can see that you're both obviously upset so we'll just get going and leave you two be." Said Reigen diplomatically. Sometimes you had to run away and live to see another day. If he stayed for another moment he would never live to see another day.

"You think that you're an adult now, Shigeko? Is that what you honestly think?" asked Hana through clenched teeth. Two adults in a relationship? A grown man and a teenage girl who didn't know any better.

"Yes. I'm eighteen. I can't drink or smoke but I can go to university, graduate high school, drive, get married, buy a house, have baby, and own a business." Said Mob. How was she not an adult? She knew what age she was. She had not only managed to live for eighteen years but she had also saved the world on numerous occasions, survive six months of the most evil spirit in the world trying to break her, changed to become a better person, helped numerous people change and become better people, lived away from home, had held down a job for seven years, and knew how to make curry from scratch.

"You're a teenager. You have no clue what it means to be an adult. This is my fault. I can't believe that I was stupid enough to-" said Hana before she was cut off.

"How old are you?" asked Ichimaro suddenly. His voice as steady as his daughter's, his face equally impassive. Reigen dove deeper into Mob's aura. Somehow the calmness was worse.

"Thirty two, born in October." Said Reigen. He hoped to God that he wasn't about to get beat up. He did not want to fight Mob's father. He glanced over at Mob. She was staring at them. Her mother was sputtering and tugging on her husband. He shrugged her off.

"What University did you attend?" asked Ichimaro. Reigen, for a terrifying moment, forget literally everything about the place he had spent the first four adult years of his life.

"Lower Back Pain City University, for business." Said Reigen after a moment. Mob's father nodded.

"Have you always been a business owner?" asked Ichimaro. Reigen shook his head.

"No, I sold water coolers before this. I started Spirits and Such about eight years ago." Said Reigen. Was her father…was he trying to size him up? To see if Reigen was, what, worthy of Mob? Well, at least her father could be a reasonable man it seemed.

"You left your career? Why?" asked Ichimaro. Reigen looked her father in the eyes. He needed to look calm, in control. He needed to be strong and direct.

"I was unhappy. I found the work meaningless and wanted to get out. I saw an ad in the back of a magazine, got an idea, and here I am." Said Reigen. He was not at all ashamed of what he had done. He had saved himself from a lifetime of unhappiness. He knew that he would languish as a salaryman. Now at least he did work that was of some direct good to someone.

"You sound impulsive." Said Ichimaro. Reigen shrugged.

"I'm here and that's what matters." Said Reigen. He could feel Mob's eyes on him. Mob was confused. Dad didn't look or sound mad, she had gotten better at reading faces and tones over the years. Was this turn of events good or bad?

"Yes, you're here. For Shigeko." Said Ichimaro. Reigen nodded. Yup, that was pretty much it.

"I'm here for Mob, yes." said Reigen. He was there to support her. He was there for her. He would always be there for her.

"Has this really been going on for only three days?" asked Ichimaro as impassive as ever. Reigen and Mob nodded.

"I don't tell lies, we've only been a couple for three days." Said Mob. Arataka had said that people would only be able to see them for who they had been before. People would never be able to see them as two adults but instead as master and student, adult and kid. Well she was not a kid anymore.

"Who else knows?" asked Ichimaro. An educated man with his own business who had the decency to wait until Shigeko was an adult. Not nearly as bad as it could have been. Hana was overreacting. As if anyone could ever make their daughter do anything that she didn't want to do.

"Yesterday I told Ritsu and Sho and then the day before that I told our friend Serizawa so that's only three people." Said Mob. She didn't get why that mattered. It wasn't like she was going to hide or anything. She loved Reigen Arataka and she didn't care who knew.

"His parents don't know?" asked Ichimaro looking over at Reigen.

"My mother lives all the way in Lower Back Pain City. It's a day trip to get there and we're only closed on Sundays. My father and I haven't spoken since my parents' divorce and, honestly, we both like it that way. He can read about it on the internet." Said Reigen. He wasn't ashamed of his parents' divorce even though he knew that to a lot of people it could reflect badly on his own character. He had dealt with that before. His life was his own and he would not be ashamed.

"A divorce?" asked Ichimaro. If he started up with some 'well then he would obviously divorce Mob' crap Reigen would reach across the table and Salt Punch him into oblivion.

"Yes, when I was fourteen. My parents didn't like to be married but loved to fight. My father remarried, my mother didn't." said Reigen

"Which parent was foreign?" asked Ichimaro looking him up and down.

"My mother. She's from the United States but she still lives in Japan. She runs an English school now. I think my father is still a salaryman, but we haven't spoken in a while." Said Reigen. He was half, he didn't care. That was who he was.

"Why would that matter?" asked Mob. She knew that people felt differently towards people who were less than fully Japanese but it made no logical sense. People were people.

"For any children you might have. They would only be three quarters Japanese." Said Ishiamro. Mob wondered why that would matter. She wouldn't mind if they looked exactly like Master Reigen or exactly like her or a mixture of them both. She would love their children for who they were.

"Shigeko…you aren't…you aren't pregnant…are you?" asked Hana, her hand over her heart. Mercifully her daughter shook her head no.

"No, we've only been in a relationship for three days. I don't think that we've been in a relationship long enough to have any kids." Said Mob. Her mother looked like she had forgotten to breath. Arataka was shaking his head. What had she said now? Three days was way too early to have gotten pregnant and they had used a condom anyway so there wasn't any chance. Did they want grandkids? She knew that Arataka's mother did, she certainly said so whenever she called.

"Yes! You are much too young for any of this! Including him!" said Hana. Ichimaro shook his head and motioned for his wife to be quiet. They needed information, not to upset their daughter. She didn't need any more stress than necessary due to her condition.

"And yourself? Have you ever been married? Any children?" asked Ichimaro. Reigen sat up straighter.

"No, of course not!" said Reigen. He could feel Mob's eyes on him, her curiosity. What was she so curious about? Of course the answer was a resounding 'no'.

"But you have been in relationships before?" asked Ichimaro. Reigen nodded. Of course he had! He was a good looking successful guy! He wasn't one of those guys who avoided women and worked twenty hours a day until they died at their desk types.

"Yes, but that was a long time ago. I'm in this with Mob for the long haul." Said Reigen. He was in it for as long as he could be. He loved Mob, that was the difference between her and everyone who came before her. He loved her completely and totally and she loved him. She was also pretty jealous, if what she was feeling right then and there was any indication. He'd talk to her again later.

"Why is my daughter any different?" asked Ichimaro

"Because I love her." Said Reigen simply, that same matter of fact tone that Mob used for everything.

"That's good enough for me. We approve." Said Ichimaro. A good man who loved his daughter and could provide for her. What more could he ask for? Shigeko had been fighting an uphill battle since the day she was born. It was nice to see her hitting normal milestones for a change. Marriage, a family, a man who could care for and provide for her. More than he and his wife had ever imagined for their daughter.

"We certainly do not!" said Hana. Was that all he wanted for his daughter? A man to take care of her? Shigeko may have had her condition but she could strive for more in her life that a man fourteen years her senior!

"We do, Hana. Be realistic. We never once imagined that Shigeko would ever do this well in life. She has a business, has built a career for herself, and has found someone. We never thought that she would ever be able to accomplish anything like this. Be thankful." Said Ichimaro in a tone that left no room for argument. Hana nodded. She could always talk to Shigeko later but this…could this really be the best that her daughter had to look forward to? Thank goodness that Ritsu was born normal. There was no way that she would ever have been able to handle two children like this.

"It's getting late and we can see that you two are going to need some time to get used to the new situation. We'll just leave you be. C'mon, Mob." Said Reigen standing up. Mob nodded and stood up, too.

"Ok. But mom, dad, what did you mean by 'be realistic'?" asked Mob. Of course she could never come close to achieving as much as Ritsu had in life but that didn't mean that she could never achieve anything.

"You're different, Shigeko. You know that." Said Hana tersely. Her daughter had to have enough self-awareness to know that she was not like anyone else. That she had all sorts of difficulties that normal people would never have to deal with.

"You mean my powers? Oh. Ok. Goodbye, then." Said Mob as she turned and left. It always came back to her powers, didn't it? That she was dangerous. That she was a monster. That something was wrong with her. She slipped on her shoes as she left. She didn't look back. No matter how much older she got her parents would never be able to look past her powers. She felt Arataka slip his fingers between hers.

"I'm sorry about that, Mob. I should have handled it better." Said Reigen. Speaking to people was his forte, he should have stopped that fight before it began. Now Mob was being distant. Upset. Hurt.

"Mom and dad are always like that. They fight all the time. Sho says, not Ritsu, so I trust it. Ritsu never tells me when bad things are happening." Said Mob. Did she care? Why did she care? She hadn't lived with her parents since she was fourteen. She was a grown woman now. Why did it matter what her parents thought of her? She knew exactly who she was and who she wanted to be. She was Shigeko, she was Mob, and she was more than her powers.

"I'm sorry I made you tell them in person, then. I mean…Mob I did warn you. If you don't want to still do…this…then we can stop." Said Reigen. She was hurting. She was confused and hurting and she wouldn't have been if he hadn't agreed to start **this** with her. This wonderful, idiotic, beautiful, terrifying thing with her. Mob stopped walking suddenly.

"No. Arataka…I love you and I never want this to end. You were right, it isn't easy, but I want this with you more than anything else in the world." Said Mob. She squeezed Arataka's hand as hard as she could. Her life was her own and this was what she wanted. He was who she wanted. Did he not want to, anymore? Had he changed his mind? An icy burst of fear exploded within her. The streetlight over their heads flickered. Reigen didn't think. He just pulled her in and kissed her.

"Mob…I don't want this to end either, I just wish that you weren't hurting right now. I just…if it weren't me then it wouldn't hurt. Then you'd be happy." Said Reigen. She should have been with someone her own age, someone who her parents would have wanted her to be with. She should have been with someone who people, not only her parents, wouldn't have had any problem at all with who she was with.

"I am happy. When I'm with you I'm the happiest I've ever been. I don't care what people say or think. I don't care. I just want to be with you. I just want to be happy." Said Mob. He was all that she had ever wanted. He was her everything and she was his. That was all that matter.

"Mob…I love you. Let's…let's go home." Said Reigen taking her hand and walking with her.

"I'd like that but can we get ramen on the way home? Mom spent so much time yelling that I barely ate." Said Mob. Reigen laughed and gave her hair a tug.

"Mob, whatever you want."


	6. Reigen's Mother Ought to Know

"I can't believe I left Serizawa in charge." Said Reigen as their train sped away from Seasoning City.

"Why? He's a good person and much calmer these days." Said Mob as she sat next to him. They were close, now, but they had always sat close. The only difference now was that they could hold hands, which they did. It was great!

"I never said that he wasn't, Mob, but he's still too…nice, I guess." Said Reigen. What was that? Jealousy? Why? He was acting like a kid. Mob did not have feelings for Serizawa and she didn't even realize that he had feelings for her. That would be asinine. Mob was not going to wait for four years and then ditch him for Serizawa.

"Well, it's only a Sunday. We're only on call for spirit stuff on Sundays." Said Mob. They did exorcisms and legitimate cure removals on Sundays, not back rubs and séances and Photoshop. They used to not be open on Sunday at all but there was money to be made. Only doing the actual spirit stuff gave them more time to hang out, though.

"Yeah, you're right. Serizawa can handle that, it's only a Sunday after all." Said Reigen. Serizawa was a lot calmer but he did have a tendency to lock himself in small, dark rooms when he got overwhelmed. Maybe they'd come back to find him moved into the massage/exorcism/yoga/nap/occasionally-messing-around-when-nobody-was-around room.

"I asked Ritsu and Sho to help, too, so then he won't get overwhelmed." Said Mob. Well, she had originally just asked Ritsu to make sure that Serizawa was ok and Sho usually went wherever Ritsu went so it was most likely Ritsu and Sho over there right now.

"….Why would you go and do a thing like that, Mob? We want an office to come back to on Monday." Said Reigen. Those two got on like a house fire, and not in a good way. Sho was like a force of nature, sometimes. He just blew into your home and burnt sugar to every surface of your kitchen and then went through your browser history and left you suggestions on a stick note stuck to your computer monitor. He was a nice kid, Reigen knew that Mob wouldn't be so close with the kid, like he was her little brother, if he wasn't, but he was…like a ferret on an energy drink spiked with another energy drink. Mob's actual little brother could easily be swayed to whatever the kid wanted to do, like cover his kitchen in burnt brown sugar and then tease him about all the weird stuff in his search history…he hated those two, sometimes…but not really. Serizawa was…Serizawa. He'd probably just go along with whatever Sho wanted to do. Sho had, technically, outranked him for years.

"Because Sho wanted to be me since Serizawa was being you and then Ritsu had to be Serizawa because we needed a Serizawa or the office wouldn't be balanced." Said Mob simply

"…makes about as much sense as anything else the kid comes up with." Said Reigen. Mob leaned more into him. He reached over and pulled her close. She could still practically lay on his chest. She was short, he didn't know how short exactly but he knew that she was short. She hadn't gotten that much taller in high school but at least she had broken five feet. She could still fit practically on his chest, though. She was still so small, sometimes, but she wasn't a kid anymore and he had to remember that…even though the last time they had taken this train to their current destination she had been a kid…but those days were over. Mob made that perfectly clear.

"This makes sense, right?" asked Mob after a moment. How they were sitting made sense. They usually cuddled on long train rides. Of course it didn't' start off as cuddling. She originally needed someone to keep her stable so that she wouldn't get motion sick. It had become their default long train riding position and now, finally, she could call it what it was. They were cuddling and it was ok because they were in a couple and that was what coupled people did.

"Taking the early train? Yes, unless you wanted to get back home in the middle of the night. I am not asking mom for a ride home either, no way, not after last time." Said Reigen. He looked around subtly. Nobody was even looking in their direction. What was he thinking? Of course nobody was going to pop out of the shadows and call him a weirdo for holding his eighteen year old student turned girlfriend.

"No, I mean telling your mom." Said Mob. What if his mom said no? What if his mom yelled at them like her mom did? Mom still wasn't talking to her. Ritsu said that everything was alright but Sho said that the yelling was so bad that he and Ritsu had to sleep over at Teru's apartment to escape mom's wrath. Mom was also doing that thing she did where she got super upset and then she walked around the house looking for people to yell at.

"Why not? Mob, my mom loves you like her own kid, more than her own kid. Believe me, I know. Besides, it wouldn't be you that she'd be upset with anyway. She loves you, ok, so don't worry." Said Reigen taking a strand of her hair between his fingers and playing with it. That always relaxed her. Mob really had a thing about her hair.

"She does? But the first time she came to visit you guys had that great big fight about me…" said Mob. She didn't know what that fight was about, Master Reigen had been unusually tight lipped about it, but she had been awake and she had heard her name come up a few times.

"It wasn't about you, Mob." Said Reigen. Right, that fight. Well in his defense his mother was accusing him of being in a relationship with a fourteen year old girl. He was therefore entitled to get a little upset.

"But you both kept saying my name." said Mob. She could hear them all the way in the bedroom. She didn't know what she did, Master Reigen said that she hadn't done a thing, and the next day they had watched old movies form America dubbed into Japanese, which meant that his mom felt better, Arataka had said, but Mob still wasn't sure. Even after all these years she still wondered if Reigen Sophia actually liked her.

"Mob…that fight wasn't about you, it was about me." Said Reigen

"You? But what did you do?" asked Mob. Her name had still come up a lot. Was he lying…no. He had promised her that he would never lie to her again.

"It wasn't about anything I did it was about…what I wanted…what she thought that I wanted." Said Reigen

"Oh. What did you want?" asked Mob

"Don't make me say it, Mob, you know what it was about. You, me…back then." Said Reigen

"That I liked you?" asked Mob

"More about her thinking that I was into you." Said Reigen with a sigh.

"But that's not true. You weren't." said Mob

"You can tell her that, then. Mob…I didn't feel this way about you but we were really close. Unusually close. The kind of close that made her worry." Said Reigen

"But she's always been so nice to me." Said Mob

"That's because she likes you, Mob. She likes you and she loves me and she knows how much you mean to me, have always meant to me. She cares about you and this is…this is going to go just fine." Said Reigen trying to convince himself more than her. Mom would give him a big, fat, I told you so. That was a given. Then she'd take it…well. Well-ish. Their relationship was much better now, almost dying a couple times sure could mend the bond as it were. He got along better with his mother now than he ever had at any point in his life since early childhood. She had been there for him when Mob told him what happened when she was trapped in Mogamiland, when they had fought Claw for the second time, and when Mob had disappeared to go hunt down Mogami all those years ago. Sure mom could be kind of…much…but she'd take this well. She had to.

Because otherwise he was stuck in Lower Back Pain City until the next train came with a very angry mother and a probably very hurt Mob. Girlfriend. Right. Mob was his girlfriend now.

She was sitting next him all cuddled up, which was normal, because they had always sat like this when they rode the train together. Oh course she was younger then and he had tried to brush it off. Except now there was no brushing it off because he knew how she felt about him and he was ready to acknowledge the fact that he felt the same way.

Were they getting looks? Or was it his imagination?

He could feel the judgment of the people around him. Well not with his powers, what little powers he had, but just by…his gut, he guessed. It felt like everyone around them knew. They knew that Mob was fourteen years younger than him, that she was barely out of high school, that she had known him since she was in elementary school, that she still called him Master sometimes, that last night she called him Master right before she-

"Master? I mean, Arataka? What's wrong?" asked Mob

"Nothing. Just a little nervous." Said Reigen

"Because of your mom still?" asked Mob. Sophia was really nice, not that Mob saw her in person that often. She would maybe yell, if she got upset, but she hadn't gotten mad at Mob back when she told Sophia the truth about what happened in the unreality Mogami had trapped her in, the murder and cursing and initiating third impact and all. She had also let them stay with her for a long time after she beat Sho's dad when he was trying to take over the world. Her mom hadn't even called, she just told Ritsu to text and make sure that Mob was still alive.

"That and….a lot of things. This is still new to me, Mob, ok? This is…telling your parents kind of got to me." Said Reigen

"I'm sorry that mom yelled at you. Dad likes you, though, I think. He would have been a lot nicer but he's tired from working so much. He used to work less but then he started working a lot more after I left. He used to be kind of funny." Said Mob

"Well at least your dad likes me…or that I can provide for you." Said Reigen. Well what had he expected? Them to roll out the red carpet. Her mother's words rang in his mind. Over and over again 'I trusted you' like a skipping CD. He had done nothing to break her mother's trust. Aside from essentially waiting until it was somewhat socially acceptable to date Mob….not that he had been counting down the days or anything. That had been Mob's job.

"We provide for each other." Said Mob simply. She was the spirits and he was the such, just the way it had always been. She wasn't a baby, she could contribute to their household and she had been contributing to their household since there even was a household to contribute to.

"That's true but…but I should take care of you." Said Reigen

"Because I'm a girl?" asked Mob

"Because I spent so many years using you." Said Reigen

"Those were some of the best years of my life, Arataka, and I already forgave you for lying to me." Said Mob

"I know that you forgive me but I still haven't forgiven myself yet. Ok?" asked Reigen

"You should, though, because I forgive you." Said Mob

"Not just for the lying. I'll never forgive myself for…for what happened after the Asagiri job." Said Reigen

"When we went our separate ways?" asked Mob

"Yes, Mob, then…when I drove you away." Said Reigen. Mob put her hand over his. How could he still blame himself? She had her part to play, too. She had been too clingy. The two of them just needed their space for a couple weeks, that was all.

"We just needed to take a break from each other, Arataka, that's all. I was being a selfish, clingy, brat like you said back then." Said Mob. Reigen stopped breathing for a moment. His words from that awful day echoing in his mind.

"No!...no….Mob…you were never any of those things. Ok, we needed boundaries between us, but…but you needed me and I wasn't there…I was off on my own shit and you were hurting and homeless and-" said Reigen

"I was doing fine. I told you already. My friends took care of me when they found out that I was living outside. I wasn't a baby then and I'm not a baby now." Said Mob

"Mob…we are not having this fight again. I never said that you were a baby I just…Mob I pushed you away when you needed me the most. After what that creep Mogami did to you-" said Reigen

"I already told you that he never had sex with me." Said Mob. Ok, now some people were looking. She made herself small. Right. Should not use that word in public.

"I know what you told me but…Mob you don't have to tell me what happened. You don't have to tell anyone what happened. You just…you told me that he was on top of you and I'm sorry about where my mind went, ok? That's just…if someone wants to hurt a girl that's generally the thing to do. He liked having power over you…absolute power…" said Reigen. This was not the subject to discuss. Maybe he had jumped the gun on that one but after everything that Mob said happened….and he wasn't there for her…four years later it still hurt.

"….everyone thinks that I'm a liar. I already said that he just broke all of my fingers and choked me until I passed out. He hates, hated, sex…he said that sex and money were the most base human motivators. He said a lot of things. He'll never say anything again…" said Mob

"That's really not much better and I should have been there for you right afterwards, ok? Can we just…it's in the past and I'm sorry that we even got on this subject, ok?" said Reigen

"Ok. But I'm not a liar." Said Mob

"I never said you were. Besides, that's my job." Said Reigen giving her hair a little tug. She smiled.

"You aren't a liar anymore, Arataka." Said Mob using her powers to tug his hair right back.

"I was, though, for a while…and I'm sorry." Said Reigen

"I accept your apology and have accepted it for years, Arataka. You were a liar but you aren't now. Besides, even when you were a liar you were my favorite liar." Said Mob. She rested her head on him again. She could feel him, the way he felt. He was nestled in her aura again, mostly to hide from the feelings of the people around him. She could feel how happy he was with her, but also how nervous he was. The nervousness was making her fidget with her hair.

She really hoped that this wasn't going to end in a shouting match. As nice as Sophia was she and Master Reigen, and Arataka, did get into the occasional shouting match.

Luckily there was no shouting as they left the train station and spotted Sophia's car parked out front. Not Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, that car had gone to car heaven, the scrapper not the afterlife, years ago. This was the Mach Five, so named because it was white with red seats and went really fast. Mob remembered, that had been a fun day. Sophia had gotten a new car because she had killed Chitty Chitty Bang Bang trying to drive off the road to get to Seasoning City during the whole take over the world thing. The army said that nobody was going in so she tried to drive around the army. It didn't work and the car died, but not really because it was an animate object. It didn't matter, though, because she ahd a new car and she looked happy and maybe, just maybe, this wouldn't end up in a shouting match.

Hopefully.

"Taka-chan! Mobbu! Hey!" said Sophia. She was in her work clothes, the black suit with the white ruffled shirt and the pink ribbon. Mob had tried it the first time she had ever visited, it made her look older, but in a good way Sophia said. She was older now. Hopefully she didn't still need the suit to look like an adult.

"Hey mom." Said Reigen as he approached his mother. She was in her work clothes. She took off early to meet them. She seemed happy. She was wearing a lot of makeup, though, which could be a bad sign. She put makeup on when she was stressed and right now it looked like she was wearing at least three coats of the stuff. Or maybe she just had a date or something after this. Yes, please let his mother have a hot date or something and not just waiting to start up the Reigen family argument. They last left off at his utter failure to keep Mob safe from esper terrorists.

"Taka-chan, you've put on weight. See, I told you your eating habits would catch up to you." Said Sophia settling on saying the first thing that came to mind. She disciplined her feelings, she had to, her son could sense emotions after all, and she was still wrapping her mind around that one. The truth was that she knew that nothing good could come from this meeting. They never met in person, not usually anyway, due to the distance….and she always initiated their visits anyway…

Sophia hugged Mob, making sure to press against her stomach for longer than was necessary. Just to make sure.

"Mom! You don't see me in God knows how long and that's what you open with?" asked Reigen. He caught a glimpse of her feelings when she hugged him, before moving onto Mob. Yeah, she was nervous. He didn't blame her, they usually only visited when the world was in danger or they had almost died.

"Well I know that she's certainly not going to tell you these things. Mobbu's too nice for that, aren't you Mobbu?" asked Sophia. Mob nodded. It felt odd hearing the way Sophia said her name. She had an accent that Mob wasn't used to.

"You didn't have to come all the way here to pick us up, mom, we could have taken the bus." Said Reigen getting off the subject of how much more mom liked Mob than him.

"Don't be like that, I had to take off work early anyway so I might as well come and pick you two up. Besides, I need your help with something." Said Sophia

"What?" asked Reigen. She was his mom and he would help her…even if she did tend to put them to work whenever they visited.

"We're going to Costco. I need someone to help me carry." Said Sophia. Neutral ground. There weren't any reports of mysterious spirits or delusional terrorists on the news so they must have come for personal reasons. She knew what they were most likely going to tell her. She knew her son and she knew how he felt. It had taken four years but she accepted that her son was in a codependent nonsexual relationship with a teenage girl.

She didn't know if she could accept a codependent sexual relationship. Mobbu may have been a legal adult but to Sophia she would always be the fourteen year old girl who liked getting her hair brushed and squealed over kitten stickers and liked to dress up in Sophia's clothes and pretend to be grown up.

"Can we get Costco lunch?" asked Mob. She liked Costco, the times that they had gone with Sophia. Whenever she came over to visit she always gave them a ride to Costco, the one in Seasoning City not the one in Lower Back Pain City. Mob liked it there, they had everything and it was really cheap and also free samples and also a little restaurant in there with really good ice cream.

"Well I don't really feel like cooking so, yeah sure why not. Come on Arataka." Said Sophia. Reigen knew his mother, well he liked to think that he knew his mother. She was trying to keep them out in public. She was trying to stick to neutral ground. She was trying to keep Mob happy. Well it made sense, mom visited when she had the time but he and Mob only came over when something was wrong.

What did his mother think was going on?

The ride in the car was a calm one. Mob, actually, managed to dominate the conversation. Sophia got her going about her school friends, that was the trick. Get her talking about something that she cared about. She became quite talkative if she was talking about her friends or shows she liked or jobs that she had gone on. That was the trick to it. Sophia let Mob dominate the conversation, not that Mob knew that she was dominating it.

She was just answering Sophia's questions about her friends.

Reigen knew what his mother was doing. Whenever there was a lull in the conversation she'd prod Mob and get her talking. Right now she was going on about how her friend and Reigen's occasional secretary, Tome, was taking the summer off from university to go to some sight where aliens were known to show up. Reigen had rolled his eyes at that. Even after all these years she was still on the aliens. This new generation was too stubborn, the old man part of him decided.

He and Mob were not at all the same generation.

Twenty years separated him from his mother. Fourteen years separated him from Mob.

But he was well past the point of being hung up on that. There was no going back now and he couldn't survive it if they tried. He wanted this with Mob and had wanted it for…he didn't know how long. Too long. Far too long. Long enough that his mother noticed all those years ago.

Not the sexual part of it.

Just the love Mob gave him. The love, the caring, the thoughtfulness, and even the nonsexual skin ship that they shared. Aside from bedroom things his relationship with Mob was really no different than it had been for the past four years. Which was either beautiful or made him some kind of weirdo. Reigen would believe either.

"….so I don't think that she should take a break. She might never come back and then she won't be able to find a job or anything. She could always work for us but we don't pay her, mostly because Master, I mean Arataka, didn't want her to work there so he said that he couldn't pay her. That's why she doesn't come by that often, that and university. She has bills to pay, she said, and the people she owes money too can't be paid in friendship and good memories." Said Mob oblivious to what was going on around her. She was in the backseat watching the unfamiliar city go by. Master Reigen, no, Arataka was sitting in the front seat with his head resting against the window even though Sophia hated that because it ruined the glass. Sophia was driving.

They swerved a little. They were ok, though, because Mob could always put a barrier around them. Like she had when it was her turn to drive the Mach Five all those years ago when they were testing it out in the countryside and she went so fast the speedometer needle ran out of space. She didn't know why everyone was so scared, then, she could easily save them if they hit anything.

"Nope. That don't pay the pickle man." Said Sophia. The turn of phrase sounded weird in Japanese, she knew it did, but that was the first thing that her mind had settled on. First name. In all the years she had known Mob Sophia had never once heard her use Arataka's first name.

Relationship upgrade.

"There are people in the United States that go around selling pickles?" asked Mob. They did love food over there, if Master Reigen and his mother were anything to go by. Well he was only half American and half Japanese but still.

"Yeah, last time I was over there everyone was going crazy for specialty food places. You really should come with one of these days, Taka-chan, you'd love it." Said Sophia. If he volunteered to take Mob with him, or if she volunteered herself, then that was clear evidence that their relationship had become, well, an actual relationship. Not whatever it was that they had before where Arataka pretty much used her to fill nearly every need that he should have had a woman his own age fulfilling.

Love.

Acceptance.

Company.

Caring but platinic touch.

Not sex, though, which was good. She did not bring up the sort of man who would openly date a teenage girl…well she was still a teenager…but she was at least a legal adult now.

"Nah, I'll pass. Everyone needs me at work and if I left for that long I wouldn't have an office to come back to." Said Reigen. Right. He should go back over and see everyone…especially if Mob was serious about this whole 'forever' thing. Everyone would want to meet her, wouldn't they? And those were only his relative from across the water. There were plenty of relatives from his father's side right here in Japan who would want to meet her too…

His eighteen year old girlfriend.

"I wouldn't let it burn down again. Besides, we have fire insurance anyway." Said Mob

"Good move, Arataka, I remember how stressed you were over the insurance the last time it burned down. Terrible business…just terrible." Muttered Sophia. She wished that she could just forget that awful day. The televised message that maniac did…the news reports…driving to Seasoning City not knowing if her only son was dead or alive….that damn army blockade….the noise Chitty Chitty Bang Bang made before it died….Arataka named that car when he was two and a half…

"Well it'll never happen again, mom." Said Reigen. He told his mom too much about what happened that day. About pulling the gun on Suzuki. About Serizawa saving his life. About seeing Mob lift skyscrapers into the air and throw them. About seeing Mob's limp body hurling through the air after being incinerated…her slamming into the building…Suzuki coming after him and the esper kids and he was just so fucking **powerless** and-

"_It's funny that you think that you can even hope to win this fight here when your strongest attack is your own fear."_

There's a hand on the back of his arm. He's pulled into a place that's there and safe and warm. Bubblegum pink and electric blue. Mob.

"It's over. It won't ever happen again. Ok?" said Mob. She could see his aura then, and he was scared. When he was scared she was scared but she put that fear into determination. She needed to pull him out of whatever he was stuck in then. Memories. He got stuck in them, sometimes, as did she.

"I'm ok, Mob. Thanks for that." Said Reigen. They hadn't changed in the four years that they had been living together. In the seven years that he had known her. She always knew just how to make him feel better, to feel safe. He had never once been afraid of her, never, but he had always used her for his own safety. Be it spirits, wannabe shonen villains, or his own memories she was there to make him feel safe.

Sophia pulled into the Costco parking lot. She would not interrupt the maudlin scene before her. That was why she loved Mob, not because she always wanted a daughter, though that was a perk, but because Arataka loved her. Arataka loved that girl and she was good for him. It was weird as hell, though, the age gap but there was nothing that Sophia could do about that.

They sold a great many things at Costco but a time machine wasn't one of them.

Mob grabbed them a cart with her powers. On second thought she grabbed two. Sophia always said that if you're going to buy in bulk you might as well buy in extreme bulk. Mob was just happy to come with even though they weren't getting anything to take back to her and Arataka's apartment. Those giant boxes of instant ramen were a good buy though…and she could carry things with her powers.

"I wonder if they have that seafood pork flavor here…." Muttered Reigen. Mob could carry things were her powers and the train shouldn't be too terribly crowded…and it really was a good deal….

"That sounds truly disgusting." Said Sophia. Her son's obsession with ramen was her fault. She had been so exhausted when he was young it was just easier to make him some instant ramen, too in some veggies and protein, and call it a day than to prepare a full Japanese dinner after spending the day going to university and chasing after a toddler. She'd have to tell Mob, though, not to fall into the convenience food trap…

Sophia watched Mob's stomach.

Her sweater was too baggy to see anything.

"Don't knock it until you've tried it. Besides, mom, when I was a kid you used to make all of those weird finger foods." Said Reigen

"I never made anything weird." Said Sophia

"Oh. You mean the way you taught me to cook? The way your mother used to cook?" asked Mob as she dragged two carts behind her with her powers. People were looking, she didn't care. The more she used her powers the less likely they were to come out later.

"Ok, fine, some of my mother's cooking was a little strange…" said Sophia. She remembered that day. She had taught Mob to cook mainly to get the girl to stop watching so much television. It had been after all of that terrible business…when Mob was coming to terms with….

"Cheeseball pick me ups accompanied by miniature franks and for dessert marshmallow kabobs, I didn't think that it was weird. I didn't think it was so bad. You all said that I did a good job." Said Mob. That was back when they were staying with Sophia after the whole saving the world thing. Sophia showed Mob how to make some 'retro' food from her own childhood. It was pretty good. American people liked tiny foods with toothpicks for convenience. Less dishes to do later.

"Ok, fine, your cheeseball pick me ups are pretty good, I'll give you that." Said Reigen as they entered the store. A blast of cool air hit them, it was most welcome. There was something about parking lots, probably all the blacktop, that made them into miniature sun surfaces.

"I can make them for you if you want, next time I make dinner." Said Mob. They didn't have an official dinner making schedule but she should cook more. Real cooking, not playing with the takoyaki maker. That was what girlfriends did after all, they made dinner.

"Thanks Mob, you really are the better cook between the two of us." Said Reigen. Mob really was. Well she did have psychic powers so cooking was a snap. Also maybe he did like having someone to cook for him. Mom was right, his diet of fast food, convenience food, and snacks was starting catch up to him.

"That's not true, I like the way you make instant ramen." Said Mob as they began to walk around, following Sophia's lead. She led them right to the food court, which was good because Mob's stomach was starting to growl like an angry cat, and they parked their carts at a table.

"Well there's no wrong way to make it." Said Reigen as he followed him mom to the line for the Costco restaurant. Speaking of food what to get…ice cream sounded pretty good….but ooh! Everything pizza! And giant rice balls….and takoyaki!

"Yes there is. There really is. But it's ok, I forgive Sho." Said Mob. Ice cream would be good. They put fruit on it so that made it ok to eat as a meal.

"Do I want to know what he did?" asked Reigen with a shudder. That kid had some kind of impulse control disorder or something. The little man who lived in his head and told him when he had bad ideas just never showed up for work it seemed.

"He made it Sho tested and hamster approved." Said Mob simply

"Oh God, is he still cooking for his hamster?" asked Reigen

"He says that hamster pellets taste gross and hamsters deserve real food just like the rest of us." Said Mob

"Don't tell me he actually ate hamster food." Said Reigen

"Ok then I won't tell you." Said Mob. This earned her a tug on her pigtail. She smiled.

"It's almost our turn, figure out what you two want. My treat." Said Sophia. It was best to get whatever guillotine they planned on dropping on her dropped already. Also she was hungry and would rather eat sooner rather than later. She planned on getting some bulk frozen food and that stuff was always disgusting after it thawed and was refrozen.

"Thanks mom, don't worry, we won't go crazy." Said Reigen. She was paying. She taught him that trick and he taught it to Mob. She knew that he was planning on dropping some big news on her, she wasn't dumb. She was planning on ripping off the band-aid as soon as possible. On the one hand all of this anticipation and dread was getting to him. On the other he didn't feel like getting told off right in the middle of Costco, and if his mother lost her temper badly enough she would.

Look at him, a grown man afraid of getting lectured by his mother.

Mob didn't go crazy, just milk an ice cream, which she knew was too much dairy at once. Diets needed to be varied but right now all she wanted was dairy. She could see Sophia looking at her with a look on her face that Mob did not know. She memorized faces like she memorized kanji, it didn't come naturally to her at all. Non espers were especially hard to read because most of the time auras gave away feelings. She wasn't like Master Reigen, she couldn't tell people how to feel or make their feelings her own, but she could tell when an aura shouted it's owner's feelings at her.

Sophia sort of had an aura. Less than even a very weak esper, not that she was calling the guys from the Awakening Lab weak or anything like that, but more than what a normal person had. It was visible, though, which Mob had only seen a few times. Big feelings.

"Arataka, you're going to make yourself sick eating like that. Reasonable bites, reasonable." Said Sophia. Reigen managed to get out a 'huh' before dropping his takoyaki. Mob caught it with her powers and spun it around a few times before feeding it to him.

"Yes mother." Said Reigen with his mouth full. Mob smiled and passed him a napkin.

"So…." Said Sophia after that little display of domestic intimacy. They always had that between them, the little intimacies. It was a lot less weird, now, because Mob was older…or maybe Sophia was just used to this.

"So?" asked Mob. She knew the long 'so', it meant that the person saying it wanted to say something but didn't know how.

"Who's dying?" said Sophia dropping that guillotine already. She could see them, sort of, the colors that made up her son and his…whatever he was calling Mob these days. Pink and blue but with a fair bit of yellow added in there. Arataka was hiding within her again. He certainly looked anxious, she knew her son. He only ate like that when something was bothering him. Not that he didn't always eat like a toddler, there were just different kinds of toddler like eating that he did.

"Probably a lot of people but I don't know anyone specific dying right now." Said Mob not getting it at all. Reigen reached over and put his hand over hers. Sweet clueless Mob.

"It's nothing like that, mom." Said Reigen

"Well you two so seldom visit and when you do someone is either dying or came very close to death." Said Sophia

"We also visited for Christmas last year." Said Mob helpfully.

"Ok, yes, you did that too, but this is not Christmastime, Mobbu. So, what bring you two all the way to my neck of the woods." Said Sophia

"It's good news, mom." Said Reigen

"I'll be the judge of that." Said Sophia, a million scenarios running through her mind, all of which were related to what was most likely a relationship upgrade. She knew this day was coming and she had to be…accepting…because she only got the one son and he needed her or he'd end up throwing salt around on live national TV again or something else equally embarrassing and that girl needed her to because God knew her family wasn't up to doing any actual parenting. Right. She may have been pregnant or they may have been getting married or, well, anything but whatever it was Sophia knew that she had to handle this with maturity and decorum.

"Arataka and I are a couple now, I just thought you ought to know." Said Mob between bites of ice-cream. She thought that came out well, she had certainly said it enough time. Reigen shook his head. Mob beat him to it and she said it so…well she had been practicing it after all.

A plastic fork hit the table. Mob caught it with her powers before it could roll away.

"_She's pregnant." _Said Sophia knowing full well that it was rude to switch to English. Well Mob was emotionally fragile and took pretty much everything as a form of rejection.

"_Mom! She's not….it would be news to me if she was!" _said Reigen. English, just to keep Mob out of the know. Well Mob did speak some…she wasn't fluent though…and she did take pretty much everything negative as a form of rejection.

"_So you are sleeping with her. Well it's not like I didn't know that this day was coming." _Said Sophia

"_Mom! Please, don't start." _Said Reigen

"_Who's starting? I'm certainly not starting anything." _said Sophia

"_Yes you are. Why would you even ask-?"_said Reigen

"_Because why else would you tell me what I already know? I know that you two are in a relationship and you have been for years. You've been in a codependent non sexual relationship for years, the only thing that changed is you're sleeping together. More than I ever wanted to know, by the way, but if you came all the way out here to inform me of that I assumed that she was pregnant."_ Said Sophia

"_Mom, I swear to God-"_ said Reigen

"_I told you so. Did I tell you so? This was just an eventuality. Don't get so upset I'm happy for you, I am. She's good for you and always has been. I've had four years to get used to this and I'm…almost there."_ Said Sophia

"_How can you even begin to think that I would…she was fourteen when you met her!"_ said Reigen

"_Yes, and now she isn't. Now it's a hell of a lot less…everything. Now I can finally put up those pictures of the two of you I printed out from Friendbook. Now stop that, I can see things rattling which means that your mood is affecting Mob. I don't know why you're so upset, Arataka, you have my blessing."_ Said Sophia

"_I'm upset because you think that I'm the kind of person who would actually…I can't even say it. Mom, I was not attracted to Mob when she was fourteen! Or Fifteen! Or sixteen or seventeen or-or-or" _said Reigen

"_Of course you weren't, I never said that. Codependent nonsexual relationship, that's what I said Taka-chan." _Said Sophia

"_What does that even mean?" _asked Reigen

"_It means that she's been acting like your girlfriend long before she was ever your girlfriend. I saw it, anybody who watches you two on the internet can see it, hell, anyone who's ever seen you two together can see it." _Said Sophia

"_I never-I mean we've always been close but-" _said Reigen

"_Your mother is correct. Many people think in the past that we are in a romantic relationship. Also I am able to understand you." _Said Mob using her best English, the kind she had been sweating over workbooks for years to achieve. She earned that eighty eight percent in English that she finished with and she was going to use it.

"That was pretty good but a little stilted. Also your tenses didn't agree when you said-" said Sophia getting back to Japanese.

"Mom, she doesn't want an English lesson." Said Reigen running a hand through his hair.

"I don't mind, Master. I mean Arataka." Said Mob

"Welcome to the family, Mobbu. You have my blessing." Said Sophia. She reached over and did the hair tug thing that she had seen her son do to her. Mob tugged her hair right back, with her powers.

"Thank you but why did you think that Arataka and I were together back when I was little? That would have been weird. That's why I didn't confess then, because I knew that it would have been weird." Said Mob

"Because I have eyes, Mobbu, and despite my advanced age they still work just fine. He cared for you a lot and never, ever, treated you like anything other than an equal. I mean you called him shishou all the time, cute by the way, but he never treated you like anything other than his equal. Also there's all that terrible business from back then…just terrible….so yes, I've known that this day was coming. I didn't think that it would come on a Sunday afternoon in the Costco food court with quite so many people staring, who should really mind their own business by the way, but I am…I'm happy that Arataka found someone like you. I'm not crazy about the age thing but I am happy that he found you." Said Sophia

"We know how you feel about the age thing." Muttered Reigen feeling like he was the one who was eighteen, not Mob. His mother patted him on the head. For a moment he was…happy. She was happy so he was happy. She really was happy for him. Even though she thought that he was the worst kind of person she was happy for him…ok not the worst kind. She at least acknowledged that no matter how emotionally attracted he was to Mob it hadn't ever been sexual. That was something, at least. Still, she approved.

Mom never approved of anything.

But she approved of Mob.

"Then you know how everyone else will feel, too, Taka-chan. Especially your father. Have you told him yet?" asked Sophia

"No. Let him read about it in the society pages." Said Reigen. Mob laced her fingers in his. She knew that he and his dad didn't get along. She didn't know why, just that they didn't.

"Well you really should tell him. He asks about you, sometimes, you know." Said Sophia

"Well I don't give a damn about him." said Reigen

"…and for good reason. Many good reasons. I'm…I'm sorry for all of that, back then, when you were a kid…and afterwards. Thank you, Taka-chan, Arataka, for…for letting me into this part of your life. For letting me into your life…anyway! You know, I knew you were coming but I didn't bake a cake." Said Sophia. Maudlin scenes wee for old MGM musicals, not real life. She and Arataka weren't like that.

"But what would you have done if we dropped you a letter?" asked Reigen taking the bait. He knew this song, he had spent his entire childhood hearing this song, but it didn't sound quite so annoying now.

"She would have hired a band." Said Mob. She knew this song. Sophia liked to play this song a lot when they cooked together in those rare times when she and Arataka would come and visit her.

"The grandest band?" asked Reigen. Mob was smiling. If Mob was happy then he was happy, and not just because of powers.

"In the land." Said Sophia. Taka-chan was smiling, that was good. She so rarely saw her son smiling. He'd be, hopefully, doing a lot more of that these days. Yes. If her son was happy then she was happy.

"How about I get us a Costco cake? To celebrate. I'll have them write something along the lines of 'congratulations on your non platonic relationship' or something like that." Said Sophia. Reigen rolled his eyes.

"If you really want to…but no fondant!" said Reigen. She reached over and patted her son on the head, then, after a moment, his girlfriend too. His girlfriend and her future daughter in law. She went off to get moderately priced cake.

"Well…that was less painful than I thought that it would be." Said Reigen leaning back.

"I'm happy that she didn't yell." Said Mob. She had wished, a few times, that Sophia could be her mom. She never yelled, not for real anyway, and wasn't afraid of Mob. She accepted her. That was all Mob wanted, really, at the end of it all. Someone to accept her.

"She's mellowed out in her old age, not that she's that old, she just likes to complain. She's only fifty three." Said Reigen. Mob was quiet for a moment.

"How old is your dad?" asked Mob after a moment. She knew nothing at all about his father. Well she knew that his father had another family and was mean to Master Reigen, to Arataka, when he was a kid. He said that Sophia was mean to him when he was a kid too but she was really nice now. It was important to be close to your family, maybe, but only if they wanted to be close to you. She wasn't close to her family but…but it didn't matter because she was an adult now. But would she become estranged from them? Arataka was estranged from his family…his dad, anyway…

"Huh? He's about, um, fifty six or fifty seven I guess. Why do you ask?" asked Reigen

"I was just thinking, that's all. I never met him, not once, and you hardly talk about him." Said Mob

"And we're going to keep it that way. Mob…my dad is…he's not a nice man. He will definetley have an opinion about…us….and I don't want to expose you to someone like him. He's just…he's not very nice. Worse than mom ever was." Said Reigen. Mob could not meet his father in person. Dad would…he would not react well. Not to any of this. Not to her age, not to her powers, not to her general oddness. Nope. Dad could hear about it himself later.

"But your mom said that he asked after you." Said Mob. Relationships between parents and children were important. Forgiveness was important.

"He can do whatever he wants, I don't care." Said Reigen. He didn't care if dad was screaming his name from the rooftops, it wasn't going to happen. He was not going to voluntarily tell his father about anything in his life.

"..ok…" said Mob. He sighed.

"Mob, you're better off not knowing him. He won't take this well, believe me." Said Reigen pulling her close. She nodded.

"Ok. I was just…kind of worried. Forgiveness is important and family is important. I just…I don't want your family not to like you…like my parents don't like me. They love me but they don't like me…and I just didn't want you to feel like that." Said Mob

"Mob…they do care about you. If they didn't care about you then they wouldn't have been ready to skin me alive for…or being with you. Just…I'm fine, Mob. Really. Now come on, let's have some Costco cake." Said Reigen

"Ok….I just wish I hadn't eaten all my ice cream already." Said Mob. They had their cake and it was very good. She was happy the whole time, so was everyone. No yelling or shouting or mean words or anything like that. Just love. Love and cake. What else could they ever need?

This went well, Mob thought.

Very well.


	7. Reigen's Dad Ought Not to Know

Mob could, occasionally, cook.

"Mob….you've been talking to my mother again, haven't you?" asked Reigen as he took in the spread before him. For a moment he was seven years old and had to sit on a phonebook to take in what his mother called dinner.

"Yes, she calls me during her lunch time. How did you know?" asked Mob as she poured him some tea. She cooked, sometimes, and so did he. He usually made ramen but lately it had been nothing but takoyaki. Mob liked takoyaki as much as the next person but not every single night. Also it was better from the stand, not their takoyaki maker.

"Lucky guess." Said Reigen

"She wants you to pick up the phone when she calls, she doesn't like it when you text her back hours later with a question mark. She told me to tell you that. Also she told me to make you eat more healthy foods." Said Mob

"Yeah, that's my mom. She tell you anything else?" asked Reigen

"That she loves me and to tell you that she loves you. Also she told me to tell you that not everything needs to be deep fried or drowned in salt." Said Mob

"Why doesn't she just come here and feed me like a baby then." Said Reigen. Honestly. He was a grown man. This was why he didn't pick up the phone. This was a 'his mother' thing, not a mothers in general thing. Mob's mother had been surprisingly quiet about just about every aspect of her daughter's life since the infamous dinner.

Which was good. She would have had a heart attack at this domestic scene.

"Because you're too old for that. I could feed you if you want me to…but I think that would be kind of weird Master, I mean Arataka." Said Mob as she served them.

"I was kidding, Mob. Still, she can't tell me how to eat…and none of this is healthy, anyway." Said Reigen

"I know it's not healthy, I just made this because this is the first real dinner I ever made for you. Well, your mom helped me. Not now, I mean years ago. Remember, when we stayed with her after we saved the world?" asked Mob

"Oh yeah….this is the exact same meal." Said Reigen

"I thought that I should make you something….because I'm your girlfriend and that's what girlfriends are supposed to do." Said Mob softly. Reigen almost looked around, almost. Who was there to hear her? And there was nothing wrong with what she said, anyway. She loved him, he loved her, they were both adults, so there was nothing wrong with this.

Really.

"Nothing says love like fish ball pick me ups, miniature onigiri with melted cheese, and giant tamago." Said Reigen. Yup. It took mom a while to get good at Japanese cooking. A long while. Still, he liked it back when he was a kid…and when Mob cooked like this for him for the first time. She got into it back then, playing house. He was busy picking up the pieces of himself after nearly dying, Mob nearly dying, and almost killing a man with a toy gun. Mob had been fine, though, perfectly happy to play house after she had saved the world. She was resilient like that.

But this was different. Now she wasn't playing house. Now she was doing what adults did and making dinner for her…for him…after a hard day's work.

"I also made marshmallow kabobs for dessert." Said Mob. She called their dessert to the table.

"You remembered the maraschino cherries. Mob, I love you." Said Reigen. Who knew that marshmallows, canned pineapple chunks, fresh strawberries, and maraschino cherries dipped in chocolate could be so good?

"I love you too." Said Mob. He liked it. Well of course he was, he liked it the last time she made it. He said he loved her, then, too, but he meant it in a different way. This time he meant it in the way that she had always wanted him to mean it. She'd have to get more recipes from his mom. Maybe she could show her how to make that sandwich cake thing she made. It was pretty good and it was less messy to make with powers.

They ate with scattered dialogue, most of it from Reigen. Mob wasn't much for talking with her mouth full. She just listened to him and passed him a paper towel when he needed it, which was often. She was glad he liked it, though, even though it really wasn't much effort at all. Cooking was easy with her powers, even though she knew that she shouldn't use her powers for such mundane things. It did make cooking easier, though. Cooking was hard, mom always said so. Mom always said that Mob would never have any idea how hard it was to cook for a family.

Cooking for the two of them wasn't hard at all.

Not that she would go and tell her mom that. Mom hadn't said a word to her in so long, not even over text. She was still upset, Ritsu said. Mob didn't understand why. Master Reigen was a good person. He loved her, she loved him, and she was an adult and she could make her own choices in who she dated.

And she chose Master Reigen.

Arataka.

It was so hard to remember to call him Arataka. It still felt weird in her mind, on her tongue. His actual name. Nobody called him Arataka, except for his mom, but not all the time. Sometimes he was Taka or Taka-chan. Everyone else called him Reigen, or Master Reigen, or that Reigen guy. That last one wasn't too nice. To her he was Arataka now.

She watched him eat. No matter what she called him he was still the same person to her. The same person who ate like he didn't care if half of it ended up on his face. The person who liked to talk over every meal but she didn't mind. The person who loved her. The person who she loved. It didn't matter what she called him, he was still him.

She was still her, too.

She was older but she was still her. She still loved him just as much as she always had. The only difference was that he loved her back now. He loved her back and she was old enough for him to love her back. He still worried, though. She knew that he still worried. He still worried about what people would think. Would it ever go away? He would always be fourteen years older than her. No matter how much time passed fourteen years would still separate them. She didn't care. She didn't care if forty years separated them. She would still be Mob and he would still be Master Reigen, Reigen Arataka, and she would still listen to him while he talked with his mouth full.

Why didn't her parents see it that way?

Mom and dad had been so…mean. Mom, mostly. Mob didn't get it. Why did she think such bad things about all of this? If Mob ever had a daughter, which would be nice actually she'd call her Takako or Arataki or maybe even Ritsuko, then Mob would support her no matter who she loved. Maybe Mob wouldn't call her Ritsuko, though, because maybe Ritsu and Sho would want that if they had a daughter. They could have twins, Ritsuko and Shoko. That would be nice. All of their kids could be the best of friends.

Not that anyone was having kids anytime soon.

She didn't know why his mom thought that she was pregnant. She didn't know why her mom thought that she was pregnant. If she got pregnant then she would, obviously, say that she was pregnant. Not that she was pregnant. She had just started this relationship and was barely out of high school. Of course they weren't going to have a baby yet, they weren't even married. She didn't know when any of that would happen but she knew that it was way too early for anything to happen.

Anything but dinner that was.

So she sat at the table and watched him eat. She listened to his ramblings, not that she would ever call them ramblings to his face, and she just enjoyed what they had right then. Marriage and parenthood were in the far future for them. She didn't know when it would happen but she knew that when it did they would be good parents, the best parents, and the most loving couple. They wouldn't fight like her parents and they wouldn't divorce like his parents.

They loved each other.

But her parents loved each other too and they still fought. His parents had loved each other too and they still divorced. Would there be a time in the future when she and Arataka wouldn't love each other anymore? Would they fight all the time? Would he stay later and later at work until he never saw her again? Would she yell all the time at everything? Would they…how did people get divorced anyway? Did they just wake up one day and decide not to be married?

Why had his parents gotten divorced?

Mob wanted to ask, so she did.

"Why are your parents divorced?" asked Mob interrupting Reigen's story about the time he found a five hundred yen coin sticking out of a vending machine slot. He coughed and Mob passed him a cup of tea.

"Why do you ask?" asked Reigen after he stopped choking. That had been completely out of left field. Mob had never asked that before, not that he could remember. He knew Mob. Something was thunking around in that head of hers.

"Because your parents are divorced." Said Mob simply

"You've known that for years, Mob, I mean why did you ask right now, right this second?" asked Reigen

"I was worried, I guess." Said Mob

"What's my mom been telling you?" asked Reigen with a sigh. Who knew what mom could have been filling Mob's head with. Mom said that she was becoming ok with this, becoming being the operative word. She still wasn't.

"A lot of things but nothing about divorce. Is it true that you once stole a tiny gumball machine from the Sanrio store? And when she caught you with it you told her that you were framed? And you made up evidence?" asked Mob

"I was seven!" said Reigen. Mob smiled.

"Anyway, stop worrying about divorce. I'm sure that your parents aren't getting divorced. If they were they would have done it already. Besides, nobody gets divorced, it's just not done, and you know how your mom is about appearances." Said Reigen. That must have been it. That visit to her parents' house must have shaken her more than she let on. Poor Mob.

"I know that they aren't going to get a divorce. If they were Ritsu would probably tell me, probably, because he likes to hide things from me that would make me upset. Sho would definitely tell me, he tells everyone everything. Remember how he told everyone when he and Ritsu kissed for the first time?" asked Mob

"Oh God, don't remind me! He just ran through the door screaming it at the top of his lungs. I thought that Serizawa was going to have a heart attack. The client was none too pleased, either." Said Reigen

"Also it was kind of not good because Ritsu was still dating Rei when that happened. I was just thinking about things like that. Rei loved Ritsu and Ritsu told her that he loved her but then he ended up breaking her heart so that he could be with Sho." Said Mob

"He was still figuring himself out, Mob, and he was like thirteen. Nobody expects two thirteen year olds to stick it out for the long haul." Said Reigen

"Also Teru and I broke up. I loved him and he loved me but we still broke up. We were going to get married and live in Teru's apartment forever but we broke up." Said Mob. Reigen winced.

"If you…want to get back together with-" said Reigen choking on his words. Was that what Mob was getting at? He read her emotions. She was a little bit worried. The kind of worry that made him tap his toes and drum his fingers. She wouldn't…she couldn't….

"No. I don't want to get back together with Teru at all. We broke up almost a year ago. I was just saying that it's the same thing. I was just thinking about how two people can be in love but then they can decide to break up or get divorced. We love each other but we could get divorced." Said Mob

"That would be a bit difficult, Mob, considering that we aren't even married yet." Said Reigen

"Oh. Are you asking me to marry you?" asked Mob. Then the room rattled. He was surprised and he shared it with her so, of course, she ended up losing control a little bit. Even after that whole mess with the divine tree and hunting down Mogami she still didn't have perfect control even if she was more merged with the other half of herself.

"Mob! Slow the fuck down! It hasn't even been a year!" said Reigen. Yet. It was a yet. Of course it was a yet. He was going to marry her, he couldn't imagine himself married to anyone else. She wanted to be married. She wanted marriage and a family and he would give her whatever she wanted. Just not now. Dinner. Dinner was enough.

"I know, I was just asking because you said yet. I wouldn't mind marrying you, I just don't want us to get divorced. Your parents are divorced and I was just wondering why. They must have loved each other at least a little if they got married and had you. You can't just go around getting married and having babies with people you don't love. That doesn't make any sense." Said Mob. Reigen held eye contact with her. of course getting into a staring contest with Mob was like getting into a drinking contest with a wino, you had no chance of winning and she didn't even know that there was a competition.

"Come on, Mob, if you want to know then I'll tell you. It's not much of a story, though, and you already know the ending." Said Reigen getting up and motioning for her to follow. She followed him to the living room and sat next to him on the couch.

"I just wanted to know why they got a divorce….and I don't want us to get a divorce or break up or anything like that. I don't like breaking up, it hurts." Said Mob

"Yeah, it does. That's why I won't ever break up with you. I mean, not unless you give me good reason to but I know that you won't. I know that you would never cheat on me or hurt me in any way." said Reigen

"I would never, ever, ever cheat on you or hurt you. I don't even know why people do things like that. When you love someone then you have to always be nice to them and take care of them and make sure that they're happy." Said Mob

"In a perfect world, yes, but this is not at all a perfect world. Mob…relationships can be hard. You and I…we just started this thing and some days it'll be hard to even be around each other. Some days we just won't get along, some days we'll fight…that's life." Said Reigen

"I've never felt that way about you, ever. Not even when we went our separate ways, which felt just like breaking up. Do you…have you ever felt that way about me?" asked Mob softly

"Mob….it was years ago. Back when…you remember years ago when we went our separate ways? I was…I was mad at you when I said those things. I just…I was afraid of how I felt. I was afraid of how I felt about you and I was afraid of how you felt about me and when you got so clingy after the…after the Asagiri job…it was just too much. I was angry with you and I…I had no idea what you were going through. Then you came back and you told me…you told me what happened and then I was angry…I was angry at both of us. I was angry at you for not just **telling** me and I was angry at myself for…Mob you were living outside!" said Reigen. Mob didn't know what he was so worked up about, it had happened years ago. It hurt, though, that he had been that angry with her. She was sorry. She was sorry for being so terrible and she had told him a thousand times already.

"I said that I was sorry…" said Mob. Reigen sighed and took her hand. He was not mad anymore and he had been more mad at himself then, if anything. He just needed her to know that no matter what happened, no matter how bad things got, he would always be there for her.

"Mob…don't apologize. First of all you did more than your fair share of apologizing back then and second of all that whole thing was mostly my fault. I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you and I'm sorry that I was too wrapped up in my own shit that I had going on to be there for you. I'm just so sorry. Mob…stop worrying about us breaking up. We got through that. We got through you sleeping in the park and me throwing salt around live on national TV. We can get through anything so please, for the love of God, stop worrying about us breaking up. If we didn't…back then it stands to reason that we won't now. Ok? We aren't your bother and that girlfriend he had years ago. We aren't you and that Teru kid. We aren't my parents. We're us." Said Reigen

"I…understand. We got all of our fighting out of the way early. That makes sense." Said Mob

"Mob…we're going to fight again. Maybe not today and maybe not tomorrow but we will fight again. Every couple fights but us…I have no intention of ever breaking up with you and I have no intention of ever doing anything to make you want to break up with me. I'm not my father or my mother." Said Reigen

"I know. Your life is your own." Said Mob

"Exactly. I'm not going to move to a country where I barely speak the language and sleep with the first person who gives me the time of day and end up having a kid I never wanted…." Said Reigen. Mob squeezed his hand.

"Your mom wants you. She tells me all the time that she loves you and she wants you to call her more." Said Mob

"I know…I know mom wants me, now, but she…she didn't always. At least she didn't act like. Dad didn't either. They were…they were always busy with their own shit. They were busy with their own shit…so busy that they almost never remembered that they even had a son. Mob….my parents never should have been married. Mom came to Japan because….well she really liked Japan. She came here and she could barely speak the language and dad…he liked her. He liked her and he could barely speak English. I…I don't think that it was ever love between the two of them. I don't think that…they fought all the time. Mom hated it here, when I was a kid. Dad…dad never wanted me for a son. Mom and I were never what he…we were never what he wanted for his family." Said Reigen

"Why? You're a good person…I don't know why anyone…" said Mob

"Dad had an idea in his head of what he wanted in a son. I was never what he wanted. He…he had his moments but he was worse than mom ever was. Mom yelled, she could put your mom to shame, and she could be really passive aggressive but she never started another family while she still had-!" said Reigen

"Oh. That's why…they got divorced because your dad cheated on your mom?" asked Mob

"The cheating was what did it, yeah. That's what did it. He's still with her, last I checked. I have a brother, well I told you about him before, well that I had one. My brother by that marriage is about your age now, maybe a little older. It's just….I will never do that to you. You don't have to worry about us getting divorced or about why my parents got divorced. I would never do something so….unforgivable…to you." Said Reigen

"I would never do anything like that to you, either." Said Mob

"I know that you wouldn't, Mob, I know that. So now you know. Now you know the truth of what happened between my parents. We are not them and we never will be. I won't ever just…I would never yell at you. I would never belittle or insult you. I would never cheat on you. I would never walk out on you…or our family." Said Reigen

"Oh…that's why you don't like your dad." Said Mob. Well that was a very good reason not to like someone. When you were in a relationship with someone then you agreed to only be with them, it was a promise. Cheating was the worst kind of promise breaking.

"Yeah…that's why we don't get along and why we never will. Ok? I'm not him, so don't worry. Stop worrying about breaking up and divorce and all of that. Alright? Now come on, let's finish dinner. You did a good job on it, Mob, you really did." Said Reigen

"Thank you. I just wanted to make you happy." Said Mob

"Mob…you always make me happy. Just by being here you make me happy." Said Reigen. He leaned over and kissed her. She, of course, kissed him back.

At some point dinner was forgotten.


	8. Teru Already Knows

Mob and Teru had been broken up for a whole year.

It had hurt, it really had, that day. The day when he told her that she had to choose, him or Reigen. She had been ready to go home, back to the home she shared with Master Reigen, and he asked her to come home with him. Not for the night, and she did sleep over sometimes, but forever. They were seventeen then and he had been legally emancipated, which meant that his parents still sent him money but they didn't have to take care of anything for him that would mean that they would have to set foot in Japan. He wanted her to stay with him forever.

She said that she had to think about it.

"What could there possibly be to think about, Shigeko?" that was what he said, or rather yelled, at her on that awful day. He yelled at her, actually yelled, something that he had never done before. It had been kind of scary. Kind of very scary. She didn't much like yelling or being yelled at.

"Me or him. Just…I can't do this anymore. Choose. Me or him." was something else that Teru had yelled at her. He expected an answer right then and there in the middle of the street. He expected her to make this big choice, who she was going to be with for the rest of her life, right then and there in the middle of the street while people passed them by and gave them looks for fighting in the middle of the street.

She needed time.

Because the entire thing had just been too much. She had fought off criminal organizations, evil spirits, the most powerful man in the world, divine stalks of broccoli, and even her own inner demons but that choice right there in the middle of the street had just been too much. She had needed more time, lots more time, but he just didn't give her any. She had been planning on making this choice when she became an adult. She had been planning on making this choice in another year. But Teru, by virtue of being emancipated, was already a legal adult. He was already and adult and had been for years. She had felt like a kid, such a kid, as she stood there and practically begged him for more.

Because he was asking a lot.

And she told him that.

"I am not asking you for anything. I just…why do you have to think about it? Don't you love me? We have been through so much fucked up shit together and you're still going to choose that-that-that REIGEN over me? It's always been him…you've always chosen him….for him, for him, all for him! Always for him!" Teru had been yelling before but as he got to the end of that sentence his voice got so loud that people were stopping to stare at them. She wished that they hadn't even started this conversation. She had no idea who she would choose. She loved them both equally.

But Teru was her age.

But she had loved Master Reigen for longer.

But it would have been easy to just go and live with Teru.

But it would have been even easier to just go back home.

Teru was asking her not to just move in with him but to spend her entire life with him, to give him perpetuity. She didn't know if that was something that she could give him. She had already promised perpetuity to Master Reigen. Not in the romantic sense but in the sense that no matter what happened she would always be there for him. She would always be his friend and he would always be hers. She would always have his back and he would always have hers. That was what she had promised and Teru wanted her to break that promise. He didn't just want her to live with him. He didn't just want her to be his girlfriend forever. He wanted her to totally cut ties with Master Reigen.

There was no way she was going to do that.

She needed more time. She needed time enough to come up with something that would make everyone happy. She didn't want to lose Teru or Master Reigen. There was an expression that she never understood. 'You can't have your cake and eat it too' which was confusing because it was her cake and she could do whatever she wanted with it. Now she understood better. You couldn't have your cake right there in front of you but also consume it. She couldn't have Master Reigen and Teru at the same time…

And she had loved Teru.

Teru had been the first person to ever change for her. He had been the first person she ever kissed, the first person she ever cuddled, the first person she ever slept next to that wasn't her brother, the first person she ever went into battle with, the first person she had ever almost died with, the first person she had ever done…things…with, and the first person she had ever reached instrumentality with. He had been all of her firsts and she had been most of his and they had been together for three years, an eternity by her standards, and she could not just stand to see him go.

But that was what he had done.

He had walked away from her on that day. He had said that if she was going to be that way, if she wanted to draw this out only for reject him later, which she had not been planning on doing at all, then she could just go crawl into bed with Reigen. She cried. He didn't care. She begged him to stay and talk to her. He didn't care. He just walked away and left her crying right there in the street. It was like she had lost a part of herself. A small part of herself had just gotten up and walked away, like she had a parasite body part like in Parasite the Maxima and it could just detach sometimes….

But this was real life and that part of herself that walked away with Teru was not ever going to come back.

That had been a year before all of this. A year before she confessed to Master Reigen. A year before they had reached instrumentality together. The wound was still raw, the one left when Teru left and took that part of her, but it only hurt when she thought about it. Originally it had been a constant, low level, hurt that nothing could make go away. Not hanging out with Master Reigen, not playing videogames with Serizawa, not going on crazy adventures with Tome, not listening to Ritsu plan his vengeance on Teru for ever breaking up with her, and not even Sho and his bucket full of animals that he used to avoid his problems, his words.

The wound had hurt.

But now it was healed.

Mostly. It felt more like it had scabbed over. So long as she didn't pick at it then she would be fine. She just had to leave it all alone and hope that the scab grew into a scar. Not that she had scars. Once she learned how to channel her powers into healing her vessel she had just sort of stopped getting scars. Scars and other stuff. She hardly even ever got sick anymore. But this wasn't physical, it was emotional, and it still…it could be hard.

Some days could be easy and some days could be hard.

The days when she didn't think about it were the easiest. Those days had come more and more and more as the year had gone by. The initial hurt passed as the wound scabbed over. It had been slow at first. Every little thing reminded her to Teru. The clothes she wore, clothes that he had helped her pick out, the way she wore her hair, hair that he had spent countless hours running his fingers through, the foods she ate, foods that she had learned to cook with him….it had been slow going but she had gotten through the worst of them…

There were better days now. There were days when the pain didn't come at all. When she could go through an entire day without even thinking about him. When she could walk past places that they had gone on dates, see movies that he had introduced her to, wear clothes that they had gotten on shopping trips together, and not feel bad for more than a second. It had gotten easier as the weeks turned into months and then turned into a year.

Then she started her relationship with Master Reigen. With Arataka.

So really it was a whole lot easier.

She was making new relationship memories with him. Not just bed memories, though those were good memories, but also just normal daily life ones. There was just something different about living their lives together as a couple. It was different. Getting up together on the same futon, having breakfast together, going to work together, making dinner together, cuddling in front of the TV….it was nice. Nice, new, good memories. The best sorts of memories. The kind that she could flip through when she had a moment with her thoughts. The kind that she could fall asleep next to him while flipping through. Even something as simple as getting ramen with him…it was different now…better.

These were better days.

She had no idea if she and Teru would have had good days like this. She had no idea what it would have been like to get up with him every single morning. To have breakfast with him. To cook dinner with him. To just be with him at all times and in all things. They had spent some days together, before, back when they were still a couple. Those had been nice days, good days, halcyon days, but they were done now. Done and over with and she did not miss them too terribly….but there was always that curiosity. That nagging little curiosity that killed the cat and would kill her too if she followed it for too long. That curiosity that would hit her as she laid next to Arataka at night and tried to drift off with him. The curiosity that followed her mind as she tried to drift off to the ebb and flow of his breathing, to the feel of his arm around her, to the warmth that burst into bloom within her at the simple fact that she finally had him. For years she had been dreaming of the day in which she would truly be Reigen Arataka's and now she was and it truly was everything that she had always imagined it would be…

She only had to feel a lot of pain along the way.

And she had to cause a lot of pain, too.

Teru had accused her of always putting Master Reigen, of always putting Arataka, before him. Teru said that he had known for years that Arataka had feelings for her, that he had been able to see it since that day when they defeated Claw for the first time. He had been able to see it and he had thought that she was just too oblivious to see what was right in front of her own two eyes. Well she had been, of course, because Master Reigen was an adult and she was just a kid, at the time, and she thought that he could never have developed those sorts of feelings for her. Even though they had been through so much together the thought that Reigen Arataka could have returned her feelings seemed like the craziest sort of dream. But it was not a dream. It was real life and it was the life she was living now but it had also been the life she had been living then.

Because aside from the fact that she and Arataka had sex now their relationship had not really changed.

And that was the part that had hurt Teru for all of those years.

Because Mob had feelings for the both of them in equal measure. She knew now, with the wisdom that came from age, that she had bene wrong to be with Teru when she had feelings for Master Reigen. She should have just put those feelings away. The feelings for one of them. But she had tried to have her cake and eat it, too, and that had done nothing but cause her and Teru both pain. She had been all of his firsts except for his first kiss. She had been the only person that he had ever changed for. Her, for her, always for her. He had even tried to…when they were fourteen he had even asked her to marry him…and she hadn't been able to give him an answer….

It was a moot point, now.

And it wasn't like she wanted to get back together with him, anyways. He had gone out with plenty of girls in the year that they had been broken up. Girls from his school, girls from places that he went to, even Rei which had been kind of weird because she was Mob's friend and Ritsu's ex-girlfriend from before he knew that he liked boys and not girls. Teru had moved on long before she had. It made sense, he had been the one to walk away from her that day. She had just stood there and cried…

Well it wasn't like she had thrown herself on the ground and begged for him to come back to her or anything like that.

They were broken up now and that was that. No use rehashing the past over and over and over again. She was in a relationship and he was between relationships but he would find someone else because he really was a great guy. They were adults now, the both of them, and they could be adults about this, too. They were all grown up and grownups did not agonize over relationships they had when they were kids. Besides, it wasn't like they were mortal enemies or anything. Mob had very few enemies and the ones that she did, Mogami and Sho's dad, were either exorcised or in prison until the end of time. She would never count anyone she loved currently or had loved in the past as an enemy. She just would not. She had no reason to, none at all. They had decided to remain friends.

They had decided to remain friends and that was what they were. They hung out a lot less, adult life was complicated and busy after all, but they were still friends. The sort of friends, adult friends, that did not get hung up on the past every single time they hung out. The sort of adult friends that didn't get to hang out that often, though, because adult life was different from kid life and they were both so very busy…that was all. That was why they didn't hang out like they used to. Not that Mob wanted them to hang out like they used to. Not that Mob wanted those halcyon days of their youth and the love they shared back. Not that Mob wanted to have her cake and eat it, too.

Well she did have her cake and she was going to eat it.

That was what had brought these thoughts of Teru back. Hanazawa Teruki. Former boyfriend, very good friend, and chooser of very good cafes to have lunch in. As friends. That was all. They were friends. Just friends. This didn't mean anything. Even though they had gone to cafes just like this before, so many times before, when they were kids. He liked coffee, she liked cake, and he liked to be seen with her for reasons that Mob still could not understand. She still had those, the endless pictures that he had taken of her, sometimes the two of them, but a lot of the times just her. He posted them to Friendbook, which a lot of people had moved past, and his other stuff too which she didn't have accounts on anymore. She could have always flipped through those pictures like she flipped through the memories of the time they had together. Endless dates…days spent just in each other's company. Pictures they posed for, pictures they didn't, pictures that she hadn't even known that he had been taking…

He really liked to take selfies of them right after they had sex.

She really didn't understand why.

That was the one good thing about not being in a relationship with Teru anymore, he stopped pulling his phone over with his powers while they were cuddling in the afterglow of it all and taking a picture to 'immortalize the moment' as he said. The moment had been immortalized but not only on his phone. He loved to immortalize the moment on the internet so that they entire world could know that they had sex and that he was good at it. He was very good at it…but that time had passed. That time was gone and she could not be thinking about that right now. Not when they were here, at this café, eating cake together.

"….so I don't know. They've been out of my life for so long but now, suddenly, they want me to just cross the world to be with them for university." Said Teru as he sat across the table from her. His parents had asked him their weekly phone call to come to Europe to be with them since Claw was well and gone, now, and they had no reason to think that he would put his parents in danger anymore.

"I think that you should do whatever makes you happy. I mean, I know how sad you were, before, because of your parents and if you wanted to go back to them and it would be something that made you happy…then that's what you should do." Said Mob because, well, it was just not fair for his parents to just go and ask him to uproot his life just because he was an adult, now, and his parents didn't have to be scared anymore. She knew how lonely Teru was because they had just abandoned him…she had held him through the tears that came when they missed their weekly phone call and E-mail.

"So you want me to go?" asked Teru. Mob shook her head.

"Teru, it doesn't matter what I want. I just want you to be happy." Said Mob. She didn't know what the meaning of his tone was, there. She was bad with tones and she was getting worse at reading him. Even his aura was had to read. He seemed to be trying to keep his aura away from her, even. He seemed to be wanting to keep himself away from her. Even the way he was sitting. He was sitting back, he always sat forward, before. But that wouldn't make any sense. He was the one who invited her out, today. He was the one who wanted to have lunch with her.

"You know…that's all I've ever really wanted for you, too, Shigeko." Said Teru. He always called her that. Shigeko. Her actual given name. He had always wanted to called her Shigeko. Never Mob. A little at the beginning but he always wanted to call her Shigeko even though she wasn't really a fan of her given name. Mob just fit better. It was her name and she could decide what she wanted to be called.

"When you care about someone you want them to be happy. That's what caring about someone is." Said Mob. She didn't see it any other way. She just wanted the people in her life to be happy. That was all she ever wanted for the people in her life. She would miss him, and that was just how she felt, but if reuniting with the parents that abandoned him when he was just a little kid would make him happy then that was what she wanted for him.

"I suppose so." Said Teru

"What do you think it is, then? Caring for someone, I mean." Said Mob. He used to care for her and now she was remembering it…all of it…but she didn't want to be thinking about this. She didn't want to remember those halcyon days when they would have been younger and planning their future or enjoying their present or even reminiscing about the past, their shared past…she didn't want to remember that…

"You want them to be happy…but you also want to be happy yourself, too. I don't know. Maybe I'm just selfish. Maybe I've just always been selfish." Said Teru. Mob got the feeling that they weren't talking about his parent's weekly phone call anymore.

"You're not selfish, Teru, not any more selfish than most people. I like you just the way you are and if going all the way to Europe would make you happy then I think that you should go." Said Mob. There was some silence between them. It didn't feel like a good silence. That happened a lot these days, these silences.

"….would you miss me? If I were to go." asked Teru after a while.

"I would, I really would, but I just want you to be happy." Said Mob

"Right, when you love someone you let them go…" said Teru

"Yes. That makes sense." Said Mob

"But they don't always come back, do they?" asked Teru

"I guess not. Are you saying that you wouldn't come back? Because that would make me sad, Teru. It would make me sad but I can't tell you what to do one way or the other. I just want you to be happy, that's all. Even if we aren't together anymore I want you to be happy." Said Mob. He sighed.

"I'm saying….I don't know what I'm getting at. I shouldn't even be getting at anything. I mean, I know you, and you can never tell when someone's getting at something." Said Teru

"I do have trouble with that, you're right. So please stop getting at things because you know that unless you're direct I'm going have trouble understanding. We haven't been together in a while, Teru, and I'm starting to….I guess that I'm starting to have trouble understanding you." Said Mob

"I know. I know and…and I guess that I'm having trouble understanding you, too. If I ever completely understood you, Shigeko. I don't know if it ever did…" said Teru

"That's ok. I mean, sometimes I can hard to understand. All people can be hard to understand sometimes, Teru, and that's ok." Said Mob

"I just mean….I have never been able to understand you. I have never been able to understand you one bit. I thought that I could, I like to think that I could, but I guess that I couldn't. I mean, even back when we were kids-" said Teru

"We aren't kids anymore, Teru, so you don't have to worry about that anymore." Said Mob

"We aren't? We aren't adults, Shigeko, we're only eighteen." Said Teru

"Eighteen is an adult, Teru, the law says so. Well we still can't drink or smoke but we're adults. You've been an adult for much longer than I have, though, so I guess that you would be more used to it. I guess that way it would make sense that you don't feel like an adult, because you've had to be one since you were a kid. It's hard for you, I think, I mean you always seemed so sad, sometimes, I think…and I'm sorry. And I'm sorry that you're sad now. If you don't want to feel like an adult that's ok, I guess. You've had to be an adult for so long and-" said Mob. She would have kept on talking, because sometimes he needed to hear that, but then he reached over and put a hand over hers.

She didn't know what she was supposed to do.

She held had held hands with him before, he was the first person who wasn't her brother who she had held hands with, and it felt just like the first time. Still nice. Still warm. Still…his aura still met hers when they held hands. This was new, though, because they hadn't done this in over a year…because they were broken up…

She had held hands with her brother before.

She had held hands with Sho, before, who was practically her brother.

She had even held hands with Serizawa before.

But those times had all been out of comfort. Sometimes the best way to give comfort to someone was just to hold their hand. Sometimes it wasn't enough to hold someone's hand, sometimes you had to hold them. Like when Ritsu thought that he was a bad person for cheating on Rei with Sho and she held him while he cried. Like the time when Sho just sort of broke down while they were playing dolls, not that they called it dolls at the time it was more the game of picking up random junk and acting out things that bothered them, he had broken down when the parent characters left the kid character all alone and Mob ended up having to pull him into her arms because he just would not stop crying….she even had to hold Serizawa once when the world got to be too big and too much and he was going to explode…

She hoped that this was one of those times. She hoped that this was one of those comfort times and not one of those romantic times. Those times were over and done with, now. They were broken up and they had moved onto other people and other relationships. As much as she thought about him and what they had before she would still never trade what she and Arataka had for the world.

"Teru, is this for comfort or because….or if because you might still like me?" asked Mob. Sometimes it was best to get right to the point of something. The question was an awkward one and it made the atmosphere awkward but it was one which needed asking. She needed to ask him because while she would gladly offer comfort, a human connection, she would not offer up a romantic one. She was a lot of things but a cheater wasn't one of them. She had never once, no matter how in love with Master Reigen she was, cheated on Teru. Not once. Not a single time.

He took his hand away.

"I honestly have no idea. I guess that…I may still harbor some feelings for you….but I would never force you to do anything that you didn't want to, and I know that you don't want that with me anymore." Said Teru. His voice sounded bitter, like coffee. That would make sense because he did drink a lot of coffee. Also because their break up was probably a wound for him too. A scabbed over wound that neither of them should be picking at. It hurt him too, Mob thought, even though he was the one who gave her an ultimatum and he was the one who had left her there crying in the street. He had just walked away…and that was what happened. She hadn't exactly chased after him…thrown herself down at his feet and begged him to stay with her…but that was also not something that she should have had to do.

They were a couple. He shouldn't have just dropped that question and the ensuing ultimatum on her like that…and she should not have had feelings for someone else. So maybe it was a good thing that they were broken up now.

"Teru…it still hurts to think about how we broke up and to remember what we had but…but I don't want us to fight or to feel bad. We have something that was really nice but it's over now." Said Mob

"Well you would be the expert." Muttered Teru

"What do you mean?" asked Mob

"You're the one who wanted to-" said Teru

"I never wanted to break up and I'm sorry that there was a misunderstanding. I didn't say that I wanted us to be broken up…I just said that I needed time. It was a big thing you asked of me, Teru, and I needed time to think and to process-" said Mob

"No matter how much time I would have given you the answer would have been the same. You would have still gone right back to Reigen." Said Teru

"I don't-I don't know that I would have-" said Mob

"You know that you would have. You've always gone back to him eventually. You went back to him after that time you disappeared after you leveled half the city-"said Teru

"I had to go home, Teru. I hadn't even been in control of my body for days. The other Shigeko was. She…she was hunting down Mogami…and she didn't really feed us or have us sleep that much…I can live off of my powers but it's not…good…" said Mob

"You could have just come to my house! Sorry, sorry, just…that was hard on me. That…whatever her name was…shows up out of the blue and then you just…exploded….and then you were gone…and that was right after the Divine Tree-" said Teru. Mob took a deep breath. She could feel her powers reaching out around her. She did not want to talk about that stupid tree. She did not want to go over every single thing that she had ever done wrong in her entire life. She was not the one on trial here, nobody was on trial, and if anybody had to be on trial then they should just find someone who deserved it and then put them on trial if Teru wanted to have a trial so badly!

"I. Did. My. Best." Said Mob. She needed to stay calm, to stay in control. She was an adult now and adults did not explode.

"I know, I know-" said Teru

"That stupid tree was bright, very bright. I couldn't see your aura or anyone's because it was so bright. I didn't know that it was evil or that it was stealing people and using them as batteries…and I'm sorry. I'm sorry that it got you and everyone else I care about…and I'm sorry that it got Dimple…double killed…and I'm just sorry, ok? I never meant to-" said Mob

"The second that it was all over you went right to Reigen. Not to me, not to your little brother, not even to Sho who thinks that he's your little brother. No. You went right to Reigen." Said Teru

"That doesn't mean that I didn't love you." Said Mob

"It sure felt like it, Shigeko. That's always the way it felt. Even after we stopped Claw from taking over the world you didn't even-" said Teru

"We made love right there in the dirt under the tree and from what I remember it was nice, really nice." Said Mob

"…we didn't do that until we got to the Awakening Lab…"said Teru

"Well then I guess that I remembered wrong, and I'm sorry. It was a lot, Teru. I had to give up my physical body and then put it back together again and-"said Mob

"I know. I was there. We were all there. I remember….I remember how it looked when you turned into that big white…thing…that looked like you but it was made of energy…how it grew and sort of bent over backwards and then…exploded…and then I thought that you had died-" said Teru

"I'm sorry that you had to see that. I'm sorry that any of that happened and I'm sorry that I did whatever it was that I did afterwards that I don't remember. Ok? I'm sorry and I don't feel like going over every single mistake that I've ever made-" said Mob

"You went with Reigen. The day afterwards you went with him to Lower Back Pain City and you just…you were there and you left me all alone…and I had no place to go…" said Teru

"I'm sorry. Master Reigen, Arataka, just woke me up and asked if I wanted to visit his mom. She's…she always been kind of a mom to me and I guess that I needed a mom then. I needed someone because I was scared, Teru, I was scared. I died….I really think that I might have died that day…or at least my body was gone…and the world almost ended…and I was scared. You were scared too and I guess that I was just being selfish….or something….and I am sorry that I left you all alone-" said Mob

"You left me so that you could be with Reigen. Just like after that first time we fought Claw and-" said Teru. Mob saw spider cracks beginning to form on the window next to them. Control was starting to slip through her fingers like snowflakes in a blizzard. She didn't want to feel any worse than she already did sitting next to him and wondered what could have been. She would have gladly sat there remembered all that is, was, and could have been over this…this tribunal. She knew that she had made some mistakes. She knew that she had been selfish when she was a kid. That was just it, though, she was a kid. She was a kid and looking back she had to go through a lot of stuff that other kids didn't. She convinced herself that she was an adult back then but she had just been a scared little kid who just needed everything to stop for a moment so that she could be a kid. No more wars with Claw and spirits and trees and herself. She had just needed a break from it because it just kept going on and on and on and on. That was what the trip to visit Sophia was about. She just needed to breathe and be a kid and have fun and bake things and play game and jump on the trampoline and go through the dusty attic boxes and try on Sophia's nice dresses and wedding kimono and look through all of Master Reigen's old stuff and play with the cat and watch movies and play albums in languages that she didn't speak on records older than she was…

She would not apologize for that.

She had literally saved the world. She had been entitled to a break.

"I was a kid, Teru. I was a kid and I needed a break. I was only thinking of myself and that's what kids do. I don't want to go over every single thing that I've done wrong in my entire life and if that's what you want to do then I guess-" said Mob

"Reigen. Are you seeing him?" asked Teru suddenly. Well that question had certainly, seemingly, come right out of nowhere. Mob blinked.

"Arataka and I are a couple-"said Mob. She hadn't told him. She hadn't come here to set out to tell him. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to. If she did she figured that she would have just been opening up old wounds…and that was bad for everyone involved. Maybe she had just been selfish, then, because maybe Teru still had hope that they could get together. Maybe she had just hoped that by not telling him she could have still stayed friends with him. Maybe she was still the selfish little girl who had tried to have her cake and eat it, too.

The cake in front of her was untouched.

"Thought I ought to know." Said Teru. It was a statement and not a question. Mob knew the difference in tones between statements and questions.

"Yes. You ought to know." Said Mob

"I know. Sho told me. Well he told me in the context of telling me about some dinner that you and your family had where your mother apparently had some sort of breakdown…" said Teru

"That happened after we left. Mom didn't…doesn't…like that Master Reigen, Arataka, and I are a couple now. Dad minds a little, Ritsu says, but not as much as mom." Said Mob

"It just…hearing about this…new development…from SHO of all people just…hurt. It hurt because I suppose that even though we did break up there was a part of me that still…held out hope that you would come back to me." Said Teru

"But you're the one who walked away from me, Teru, right? Am I remembering what happened right?" said Mob trying to keep calm. She remembered that day. She would never forget that day. That awful day years ago…

"Yes but you didn't give me any indication that you wanted me to come back to you. You didn't give me any indication that this time would be different than any of the other times that you chose Reigen over me." Said Teru

"I never meant to choose him over you. I guess that I….that I didn't want to have to choose anyone. I guess that I was just a dumb selfish kid who wanted to…to have her cake and eat it too." Said Mob. Teru, much to her surprise, smiled. It was a tight thing, a painful looking thing, and she wondered why he did it if it pained him so much.

"You've barely touched your cake." Said Teru

"I know. I guess we were too busy fighting." Said Mob

"I hate it when we fight." Said Teru

"I do too…and I am sorry if I hurt you…I had no idea that I had been hurting you over and over again. Teru…you should have told me. If you had just told me what you were feeling back then….things might have been different." Said Mob

"Would they have? Would they really have?" asked Teru

"I don't know, I can't see the future. I could call Rei…if you want to see our future. I don't think that there's anyone who can see alternate timelines, though, or we would have met them." Said Mob. Teru laughed, a bitter sort of laugh, but a laugh.

"Yeah. They would have tried to kill us at some point." Said Teru

"I hate when people try to do that." Said Mob

"Me too…and it's been so frequent…back then. Not now. It happened so often and it was…it was hard on both of us. I guess that you just clung to Reigen because…because he was there for you…but so was I…" said Teru

"We were there for each other…sometimes…but you're right. I should have been there for you more." Said Mob

"And I should have told you how I felt. I guess that I…that I just didn't want to rock the boat. We had something together, something amazing, and I just didn't want to open your eyes to how Reigen felt about you…and I guess that I didn't want to open my eyes to how you felt about him. I told myself that you didn't return his feelings but it just got harder and harder to ignore and then I just…snapped." Said Teru

"….I'm sorry that I put you through that. I'm sorry that I caused you so much pain. I never meant to-" said Mob

"Those were some of the best, and worst, times of my life and I wouldn't trade them for the world. I guess that I invited you here today to…to ask you if it was true…and to get some closure. To know that what happened between the two of us is over and done with now. That you…you're finally with him." said Teru. She saw so many emotions cross his face in that moment that she didn't even have time to put names to them. So much hurt and sadness but also a small sort of smile, a bitter…but less bitter…sort of smile. She didn't know. She was bad at reading people's faces. His aura was much less guarded though. It moved to meet hers. Meet, not meld, as Master Reigen's…Arataka's…tended to do.

"That time is over but we…we made some very good memories…and I thank you for those. I'm sorry that I made you feel bad, before, and I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about me and Arataka…you're a good friend and you've been a big part of my life for years…and I should have told you myself instead of letting you hear about it from Sho…" said Mob

"Yeah, never tell Sho anything. Within an hour everyone and their dog will know. Who knew he was such a gossip?" laughed Teru, a real laugh that time.

"He loves going into other people's business. Remember the time he went through everyone's search history?" asked Mob with a laugh of her own. Looking back that had been funny. Not in the moment, of course, not that she had been looking at anything weird. Everyone else she knew on the other hand…

"How could I forget? I couldn't look anyone in the eye for weeks…." Said Teru

"Nobody could look anyone in the eye, not even Sho himself. Remember when he tried to make it right by printing out his entire search history?" asked Mob

"Yeah I learned way more about him that day then I ever wanted to know…" said Teru

"Me too…" said Mob. They settled into a silence, a comfortable one. The atmosphere was different. She didn't know how but it was.

"I…I really do want you to be happy…ok? That's all that I want for you." Said Teru after a moment. Mob watched him. His aura. His face. Pain but…but not as much. She knew that it hurt. The wound hurt but it was healing. Her wounds and his still needed time to heal. But at least there was closure, now. A wound could not heal unless it was closed.

"Teru….that's all that I want for you, too." Said Mob softly. They just watched each other, then. For a moment he wasn't eighteen anymore. His hair wasn't long enough that he could put it up in a bun, he didn't stand head and shoulders above her, and he still had that bright green hoodie that they both shared. For a moment she wasn't eighteen anymore. Her hair was still in braids, she was in her school uniform, the sailor suit, and her socks had broken elastic. She wasn't in a proper dress that she had gotten at the department store. Her hair wasn't hanging lose down her back, and she wasn't wearing proper shoes with a bit of a heel to them. For a moment they were two kids, not two adults, sitting there at that café planning their lives or reminiscing about the past or discussing the idiosyncrasies of the present.

But that moment passed.

Then she finally ate her cake.

And no longer had it.


	9. Mob Ought Not to Know

Serizawa was worried.

Miss Kageyama, Master Kageyama, Mob…something was up with her. It was just another work day. She had come back from lunch, she had taken kind of a long one, and now she was just sitting at her desk. That was normal for her. What was abnormal was the way she was acting…or, rather, not acting…if that made any sense.

"Are you feeling alright?" asked Serizawa. Something had been off about her all day. Her face was normal, impassive as always, but her aura told a different story.

"Huh? Oh….I'm fine, just thinking." Said Mob. Her mind was elsewhere and had been for a while. In the past. The past was not in black and white or a different aspect ratio to the present, not like in anime, but she wished that it was. She wished that there was some kind of clear demarcation in her mind between past and present like that.

"Um…is it about something…troubling? And feel free not to answer! I was just…worried…about you but I don't mean to pry or anything!" said Serizawa

"You're not prying. I'm just…thinking. About the past I mean." Said Mob

"Oh…about everything that happened?" asked Serizawa. He thought about the past a lot too. The path his life had taken. The mistakes he'd made, all of them, the ones that led him to the top of that tower on that bitterly cold day four years ago. The ones that had brought him into her life, had brought her into his life, brought them to each other's lives. She had saved him…in every single way a person could be saved.

He had been thinking about that an awful lot lately.

Her. Him. The way he felt. He knew that it was wrong to feel the way he felt about her. He had known for quite some time. In the beginning it had been because of her age. He hadn't started feeling this way about her since she had gotten older, thank God, but he knew that it was still one hell of an age gap. He had always thought that she would say no on that basis alone. That and, well, the obvious. He was himself.

And she could have done much better than him.

She had done so much better than him.

"Not everything, not everything in my whole entire life, because a lot has happened to me, but a few things. Things from when I was a kid. Paths I could have taken. Things that I'd done that were…were selfish. Things like that." Said Mob. She had been such a selfish kid…in the way that she had treated Teru. She had loved Teru and Master Reigen, Arataka, at the same time…and she had told herself that she would make a choice when she got older…but she had always known what that choice would have been. She had always known, at the back of her mind, who she would have chosen…and she was terrible for that. Just terrible.

She had hurt Teru so badly.

And all he had ever done was love her. She had been his and he had been hers and he had wanted forever with her, he had even asked her to marry him when they were fourteen and thought that the world was ending….and it had almost ended….but they had lived and she…she wanted…she had no idea what it was that she even wanted.

She wanted to have been able to love him as much as he loved her.

But she also loved this, what she had right now, with Arataka. This was what she had always wanted, wanted since middle school. It had started off as a crush and ended with…with whatever this was. A relationship. Love. The true kind of love…maybe. She did not know. Maybe they would go the way of her and Teru. Maybe…

She hated that word, 'maybe'.

It was right up there with 'if only'.

"I…I think about that too, sometimes. If I had done things differently I mean…but I try not to." Said Serizawa. The loneliest words one could ever know. If only, if only, it were so. He wished that he could remember where he got that from. It was true, there was nothing lonelier than asking yourself 'if only'.

If only he had been able to control his powers.

If only he had never met Suzuki.

If only he had been strong enough to protect Sho that day.

If only he had been strong enough never to have gotten involved with Claw in the first place.

If only he had been a stronger man.

If he had been stronger then his life…his life would have gone in a totally different direction…and it might have been better. Though, these days, he can't imagine anything better. He has a job he loves and he has friends, real and true friends, and that's more than he ever thought that he would have had before…back when he had been in the hell that he had made for himself. He had a good life…

And there was no use thinking in terms of 'if only'.

"Why do you try not to? It's…important…I guess. To think about the things that you've done wrong. If you think about the things that you've done wrong then you can be different. In the present I mean. If you think about the things that you've done wrong in the past then you can be different in the present." Said Mob. She would not make the same mistakes this time around. No. She loved Arataka…and no other. That had been her mistake. Thinking that she could have her cake and eat it too.

Why not, it was her cake?

She had thought like that, before, when she had been younger. That expression meant that you could have a cake but once it was eaten you did not have a cake anymore. She had wanted to be with both Master Reigen and Teru…and she had ended up hurting Teru and getting hurt in the process. She had loved Teru. She had loved Arataka. She had ended up making a big mess. Well she was never going to make a mess like that again…she wasn't even in a position where she could have made a mess like that again. She wasn't in love with anyone but Arataka…right? She didn't still have feelings for Teru. It had been a year. What they had…it had been amazing. It had been fun and scary and wonderful and terrifying…like a rollercoaster. There had been ups and downs and twists and turns and the whole thing had been made even more…intense…by all of the events that had befallen them in those years. Claw. Sho's dad's attempt to take over the world. The Divine Tree. Asagiri randomly showing up. Mogami. All of it had been….it had been so much more than any person their age should have had to deal with. Even one of those things should have been too much….but she and Teru had dealt with it all. Together.

But they weren't together anymore.

But she had Arataka now. She had wanted him since she had been old enough to want someone. It wasn't just about sex….though she did love that part…it was about love. The love that they had shared. All of those things that she had been through with Teru…she had been through them with Arataka too. She and Arataka had been through so much together…and it had only brought them closer. Closer than master and student. Closer than friends. She wondered what it would have been like if none of those things had happened. If her school girl crush had stayed that, a school girl crush. Something to be outgrown like an old school uniform or an unflattering hairstyle. Something that should have passed with time.

It hadn't passed with time.

And now she and Arataka…there they were. Together.

So maybe it was pointless to wonder 'if only' over and over and over again.

"I guess that's true but…but I also feel like a person can drive themselves crazy thinking about the past like that. You can't change the past so you can only live with the present. I mean there are some things, a few things, that I would have changed if I could but…but when I think more about them then I know that I wouldn't because if I changed those things then I would end up changing the present, too." Said Serizawa

"But what if the present…what if the present isn't the way that things were meant to be? I mean….some things you can't for see or change but other things you…you can." Said Mob

"The way I see it is that it's pointless to wonder 'if only'. There are so many times in my life that I've wondered 'if only' and I…I'm tired of wondering that. I just want to be happy, now, and that's what matters. Not the past, not all the bad choices and outright mistakes that I've made. Just now…now is what matters the most." Said Serizawa. He wanted to tell her that being with her was what mattered the most…but he knows not to say that.

He knows never to say things like that.

She deserves much better than what he can be. She deserves a man who doesn't get anxious when he can't get off of a train fast enough. She deserves someone…someone else. Someone better. She deserves the man she loves. There's no point in wondering 'if only' like that. If only he had asked her out when she was single, if only he had been brave enough to make his feelings known….hell, if only he had gotten her real chocolates, not obligation chocolates, last White Day….

If only, if only, it were so.

"But what if now is…what if in getting to 'now' you had to hurt someone….someone who cared about you? I just…I don't know. I've been thinking too much, maybe. He said that he wasn't mad at me anymore but I'm just….I guess that I'm mad at myself. About what happened. About how I was back then. All of it. I'm mad at myself even though I know that it's pointless to be mad at myself. It happened and now it's over." Said Mob

"Who's not mad at you anymore?" asked Serizawa. He could not imagine anyone being mad at her. Suzuki even forgave her for defeating him and destroying his life's work. She was just…not the sort of person you could be mad at. She was sweet and caring and thoughtful…and so very….perfect.

That's the word that encapsulates her.

And he knows that he's wrong to feel that way.

"Teru…." Said Mob. She wondered if that was enough. Everyone knew what happened between her and Teru, how much it had hurt the both of them, and she hoped that one word, his name, could encapsulate the entirety of how she felt…then and now.

"Oh." Serizawa winced. That was….that had not been a good time for her. Being broken up with. He had never been in a relationship before, a romantic one, but he knew how painful it was to be cast aside. He hadn't had the faintest idea of what to say to her back then so he just told her that it was going to be alright. He hadn't said anything else because, well, what else could he have said? It was all going to be alright. And it had been alright. She was with Reigen now and she was happy…right?

"He and I…we had lunch together because he came back from his trip and….and we talked a lot about the past. About what happened between up…and it was kind of…it opened up a lot of old wounds, I guess. I just….I've been thinking about what happened. About the way I treated him. About how I could have, should have, done things differently." Said Mob

"But…isn't he the one who broke up with you?" asked Serizawa. That was his understanding of it, anyway. How anyone could have cast someone like her aside…he did not know. If she had been his-and he gets off that train of thought before it even leaves the station. He gets off that train, throws away his ticket, and gets on a bus going in the opposite direction. He cannot have those types of thoughts about her.

He couldn't do that to Reigen.

Reigen knew how he felt…and he was ok with it. Truly a friend. Serizawa was a friend as well. That was why he would never, ever, ever try and ruin what Mob and Reigen had. Reigen had been so happy lately, not his usual manic sort of happiness but real and true happiness, and Serizawa would not take that away from him. He deserved it, that happiness, the happiness that she could bring.

"He is…but he said that he only broke up with me because I like…Arataka…and he could tell and that he…he didn't want to break up with me but…but also he didn't want to keep me from Master Reigen, Arataka, since he was who I wanted….and it hurt a lot…and we just got to talking and I…I was so selfish back then…and I know that there's no point in thinking about it now. What's done is done…and I don't even know why this bothers me so much. I have what I wanted. I have who I wanted…and I'm happy. This is all that I've ever wanted, ever, since I was in middle school…and I should be happy but now all I can think about is what happened…and how terrible I had been-" said Mob

"Stop. Please, don't call yourself terrible. You aren't. You could never be terrible." Said Serizawa. That word….that word should never have been applied to her. Ever. If they hadn't been sitting at their own desks on their own sides of the room then he would have….he didn't even know. Offer her some comfort…but they were on opposite sides of the room so he had to use his words…

Words and aura.

Because his aura was reaching out to hers, now. Her aura was reaching out to Reigen's. He was doing his thing in the back room but her aura still reached out for his…not Serizawa's…and he was ok with that. He really was.

Really.

"I feel terrible…and I know that it doesn't make any sense. I mean, these are things that happened years ago. There's nothing that I can do about any of it now besides try and be a better person. That's all. Back then….back then I was younger and I thought….it doesn't matter what I thought. It matters what I'm thinking now and…and yeah, that's what matters." Said Mob. Was there even any point to agonizing over things that happened when she was a teenager? A kid? She was an adult now and this was…this was everything that she had ever wanted….right?

She didn't still want to be with Teru.

She couldn't. That part was over not and this part was just beginning. This part…this wonderful part. The part that she had been waiting for…the part that she had been waiting years for. She was with him, Arataka, now just like she had always wanted. She was his girlfriend. He was her boyfriend….and she should have been happy. This was her happy ending…

No, it wasn't.

Because this was real life. In real life you didn't just have a happy ending. Life went on. She was happy now, and she would enjoy being happy, but they still had a lot of years together…and maybe that was what she was afraid of. It ending. The end to those happy years. Maybe she wished, then, that she were an anime character. Then she could have had a happy ending in perpetuity. She could have just said that she lived happily ever after and the credits would roll and that would be that. Well that was not at all how things worked out in the world, in reality, in this reality.

She never wanted to hurt anyone again.

She never wanted to be broken up with again.

And she never wanted to be that selfish ever again.

"Mob…I hate seeing you beat yourself up like this. I don't know what it's like to end a romantic relationship, I've never been in one before, but I do know what it's like to be cast aside…and I do know what it's like, too, to…to hurt someone you care about…and I don't think that you're terrible. I could never think that you're terrible. I think…I think a lot of things. I think that you shouldn't ask yourself the 'if only questions'. I've been asking myself those questions for my entire life and…and they don't take you any place good. They just don't. If I could do it all again I'd….I would not change a thing because…because in changing things then I might have never met you…and I don't ever want a world in which I've never met you…because you mean a lot to me. I care about you. I've always cared about you, Mob…always. Since the beginning. The truth is that…I've always admired you. You're not terrible. You do so much for other people…you've put your own life on the line so many times before…I could never think that you're terrible….and I think that letting you go was a mistake on your ex boyfriend's part. It was. Because you're…you." Said Serizawa. He had said a lot more than he had been planning on saying…and now she was looking at him…well she had been looking at him before but now she was really looking at him. It was like he was under the world's most powerful microscope, then, and he hoped that she wasn't reading deeply into…but she might have been. People said that she was clueless, that she was unfeeling, but she could actually be very insightful sometimes. A lot of the times…and he had certainly given her enough to look into. He couldn't help it. It all came up like…like vomit. Word vomit.

"You…you're talking like…Teru used to say stuff like that to me…and Arataka says stuff like that to me…but they liked, like, they like me…a lot. So I think that I'm just being clueless again…and I'm sorry that I said anything. I'm just being weird." Said Mob. She looked away from him. That was just how she was. Clueless. Always totally and completely clueless. She never got it, ever. What people really meant. Maybe she should just stop talking to people. Then there wouldn't be any of her usual clueless misunderstandings…

"Um…" said Serizawa. This was a fork in the road. He could tell her, it would be so easy to tell her….and he had wanted to tell her for so long but…but then what? Real life was nothing like manga and anime. Nothing good would come to confessing to her. Nothing at all. She did not, could not, and had never had those types of feelings for him…and even if she did…then what? She was with Reigen. Reigen loved her, had loved her for a long time, and Serizawa was not going to hurt him.

His best friend.

He was not going to break his best friend's heart like that. Nothing broke like a heart. It broke into a thousand and one tiny little pieces and no matter how much you tried, how much gold and lacquer you used, it never came back together nicely…ever. A heart was not a teacup. Even if you put it back together it would never be the same, never look nice the way you wanted it to, and that was…that was the way that it was. Be it a broken heart from romantic rejection or just plain being used and cast aside…nothing broke like a heart…

And he would hurt anyone like that…ever.

"I like you a lot…not like that! No, but I do like you…and it hurts me to see you beating yourself up like this. I think that wondering about the past, about different paths that your life could have taken, will only upset you. You're right, you can only try and be a good person now…and you are a good person. You're a good friend and a good person and…and you've got someone who cares about you a lot. So I think that you should just…just think about what you have now, all the good things you've got, and worry about that past….less." said Serizawa. He still felt like he was under a microscope…

But he wasn't.

Because her attention turned away from him. She thanked him for listening to him, for his advice, but her attention was no longer fully on him. No. He saw her aura, the way it shifted, and then he heard a door opening. Her attention was back where it should have been, on the man she loved…and that was fine. He'd had a chance, in the past, but he had not taken it. There was no point in thinking about it now, in wanting to…to say something now…because there was nothing that he could do. He could have told her how he felt but…but there was nothing good that would come from her having that information.

Maybe she ought to know…

But maybe not.

Because she was happy, now, and he would not ruin that for her. Ever.

The last thing he needed in his life was another regret.


	10. The World Ought to Know

Mob had tried to hold his hand.

He had no problem with this…usually. Since their relationship upgrade she had been very free with her affection….well she had always been very free with affection…but now it was different. Now it meant something. Well it had always meant something but now it meant something…else. Something more. Something that he was still not entirely comfortable advertising to the entire world.

Mob was his girlfriend.

He knew that his thoughts on public displays of affection, even that innocent gesture, made no sense. She was eighteen, a legal adult, and there was nothing wrong with two consenting adults holding hands. Hell, they had gotten up to much worse behind closed doors…but these were not closed doors. They were out in the open. Exposed. Right there for all the prying eyes in the city to take notice of. He could feel them, a million eyes on him, boring into him, all because Mob was trying to hold his hand.

"Arataka. Why do you keep doing that?" asked Mob. It was the end of the day. They were on their way home, now, and all she wanted to do was be near him. Not that they hadn't been together all day already but that had been for work and work was different. At work they had to be Reigen and Mob, professionals, and not Mob and Arataka, a couple. A couple who was in love and…and could finally show it.

"Doing what?" asked Reigen doing his best to play dumb. He had shoved his hands in his pockets in an effort to get her to stop it already….but getting a clue had never been Mob's strong suit. She needed to have things spelled out for her…and this was not something that he was prepared to spell out. Mainly because he didn't have a leg to stand on. They were a couple. They had spent the past few weeks telling everyone they knew. They lived together and had been living together for some time now. They'd made love more times than he could count….

So there was no reason not to hold her hand.

"I keep on trying to hold your hand and you keep on pulling away. Why? Are you mad at me? Is it because I accidentally left your futon out in the rain? Because I got all the water out and I put it in the futon dryer already so it should be fine. It doesn't even have the mildew smell, either." Said Mob

"No, it's not about that. It's just…um…my palms are sweaty." Said Reigen. That had been the best excuse that he could come up with on the fly. He needed something concrete, something divorced from his irrational feelings of paranoia…he really ought to get that looked at. Sit down with a professional and have the roots of this hand holding aversion looked at. It probably had something to do with his mother or his childhood or the time when he got locked in the hall closet when he was four and thought that he was going to die.

Maybe.

Or maybe it had something to do with the fact that he had met Mob when she was elven and now she was his actual girlfriend. He was her boyfriend. They were in a committed relationship. A committed adult relationship. With the girl he had met all those years ago…the one in pigtails terrified of herself looking to him for answers…but she was not that person anymore. She was eighteen now, a grown woman according to the letter of the law, and she had started wearing her hair down years ago. She didn't even look to him for answers anymore, no, now they looked for answers from each other…because they were a couple. Now. No longer Master and Student but a couple…

And he had no reason to feel the way he did.

"You're always sweaty. I don't mind." Said Mob. She didn't get why he thought that it would bother her if he was a little sweaty. He was always sweating even when it was cold out. She had always figured it was because he never stopped moving. Even at his desk he was always fidgeting around. Even when he talked he was always moving his hands. She was used to him being sweaty, it didn't bother her, and even if it did it wasn't like they weren't regularly exchanging much more than sweat now.

She couldn't wait to get home.

Was that why she wanted to touch him? Because she wanted to go right to bed with him? She didn't know what was with her. It was like she had never done it before….she had, more times than she could even remember, but with him it was….different. Maybe because she had wanted this with him for so long. Maybe because she had spent so much time thinking about him that she was making up for all of the lost time…

Or maybe she was just a horny brat like he kept on calling her.

But not in a complaining sort of way.

"Wait for me to get home and wash my hands…and the rest of me, too. I must stink after the day I've had." Said Reigen. He wasn't kidding about that. Rubbing backs was strenuous work…and maybe he wasn't as young as he used to be…which was asinine. He wasn't even forty yet. He was in his early thirties and he should not have been feeling his age. Maybe he was prematurely aging. Maybe this whole thing was prematurely aging him.

That wasn't fair.

She was the best thing that had ever happened to him. She was his sunshine and his star shine and she tasted of angel wine, the sweetest wine that he had ever had, and she had been his everything for so long…and that had not been fair to her. She hadn't done anything wrong. She hadn't done anything but love him…and she wasn't doing anything but try and love him…and he loved her right back. He just needed…he needed to get over himself.

Because nobody was watching them.

"I don't mind the way you smell after a long day's work. I like it. You smell like incense and green tea and smoking and…yourself. I don't know, it's weird. I know that I'm not supposed to like the way you smell when you get like this but I do. I mean I like the way you smell when you come out of the shower, too. When you smell like soap and shampoo and stuff. Or like how you smell when you get ready in the morning. Like aftershave and cologne. I guess I just like the way you smell all the time." Said Mob. That had come out wrong. Too long and too wordy and too weird. It was weird how, in the morning, she was apt to cuddle up with him while he was asleep and just…be….with him. Just lay there and take him in. The way his aura, what little aura he had, merged with hers. The way his chest felt under her head. The way he sounded when he slept. The way he smelled right when he got up….all of it. She wondered if he noticed those things about her. She wondered if it was ok to ask.

Because she still wasn't sure.

There was so much in this relationship that she wasn't sure of. Like if he was bothered when she accidentally called him Master. Sometimes they would just be talking and it would slip out. Sometimes they would be in bed together and she would scream it out as she finished. Sometimes she would just think it in her head. Like she'd be at the store and see something he liked and just think to herself 'Master Reigen would probably want this' and then…and then she'd remember that he wasn't that man to her anymore.

He was Arataka, not Master Reigen, to her now.

He was Arataka now and with his given name came a lot of other stuff. Kisses. Cuddles. I love yous. Touching. Sex. All of it. It was like they were different but the same at the same time. She had never felt that way before. She had been in a relationship before but that had moved quickly. Teru had never been anything other than, well, 'Teru' to her. She had never had to wonder what the change in their relationship had meant because they had barely been friends before they became boyfriend and girlfriend.

Also she had been a lot younger back then.

"Yeah, you're right." Said Reigen. He took his hand from his pocket and let her take it. She was happy, now, he could feel it. He could feel it and he let that happiness override his feelings of being watched. Well he tried to. He tried his hardest to. Maybe if they had been in a different neighborhood. Not that he was all buddy-buddy with the people who lived and worked around his building. He was probably a stranger to most of these people. Just the guy who always wore the grey suit. Maybe the fraud psychic if anyone had a long enough memory for that little debacle.

Nobody was looking at him.

He had spent his entire life trying to get people to look at him, to notice him, to make him feel like someone. He had spent so much of his life as no one. As a disappointment. As someone that shouldn't have even been there. As someone who was just…wrong….in every measurable metric. He had always been too loud, too annoying, too scatterbrained, too distracted, too light haired, too light eyed, too much like his mother, too much like his father, too much like himself….just too much. Somehow both too much and not enough at the same time.

But to her he was enough.

To her he had always been enough. He had been enough to save her in every way a person could be saved. He had been there, that day, the day of the insurrection. When that madman tried to take over the world just because he felt like it was owed to him. When the city had burnt and two living Gods, not his words, he decided to duke it out…and she had won. He had saved her from becoming that sort of person….if she would have become that sort of person. He knew the other sort of person that she could have become. She could have become so afraid of herself that she just…stopped. Stopped living and just existed. In a prison of her own making. For most of her life. For most of herself until someone else, someone who hadn't been him, gave her a way out. Made her feel like something less than the monster she had imagined herself to be…

He had saved her.

And she had saved him, too. She had saved him for what he had become. Nothing and nobody. Another faceless cog in some company. Another failed business venture from another idiot with more dreams than he had basic sense. She had not only saved his business but she had saved him. Sometimes literally. Sometimes she had literally saved his life. Time and time again they had been in danger…and time and time again she had been the one to save him. She had been there for him in every way a person could have been there for another…and she had always looked at him like he was someone no matter what he had put her through….

And he owned her at least this.

"You're not that sweaty." Said Mob

"Sweaty is in the eye of the beholder." Said Reigen

"I thought that was beauty." Said Mob

"That too." Said Reigen

"Wouldn't sweaty be in the hand of the beholder? Since we're holding hands?" asked Mob

"Well then you would be the one to judge that, since you're the one holding my hand." Said Reigen

"Oh. You said that because 'beholder' has the word 'hold' in it." Said Mob

"Yup. Nice to see you catching on." Said Reigen. He wanted, then, to give her hair a playful tug like when he was a kid…but her being a kid, having had been a kid, was the absolute last thing he wanted to think about.

"I'm better at it, now, I think. Getting a clue I mean." Said Mob

"Well you're a lot older now, too, but honestly you were never that bad at it back then. Hell, I'm the one who sucks at it." Said Reigen

"You? No, you've never had trouble getting a clue…well you didn't know that I was in love with you for years…so maybe you were." Said Mob

"I knew." Said Reigen. He said it quickly, dismissively, like he was telling her that he knew it was going to be cloudy out that day or he knew that the ice tray needed refilling. Quick and simple and with none of the weight of all those years behind it.

"What do you mean? You said-" said Mob

"Part of me always knew how you felt, Mob, and part of me…part of me felt the same way. It doesn't matter now. It wasn't like anything could have come of it. You were just a kid and I was just the sweaty weirdo you worked for." Said Reigen

"I was a kid…but you waited and I waited, so it's ok…and you were never a weirdo. You were sweaty, you still are sweaty, but you're not a weirdo. Also I still work for you…or with you now, I guess." Said Mob

"Don't." said Reigen. He did not want to think about the past. About their past. About how that little girl had somehow grow up to be the woman holding his hand. Barely a woman. She was eighteen. She was young, too young for him, and the world knew it. What was a man his age doing holding hands with someone who was only a few weeks out of high school? That was what they were probably thinking. That and other things, too, and…and he needed to make himself a tinfoil hat because he sounded totally crazy. He had no idea what people were thinking about. They could have been thinking about internet porn and the cost of microwave dinners for all he knew.

"Don't what?" asked Mob. Even at her age she was still saying the wrong thing. Even at her age she didn't know the right combinations of world…even for when she was talking to him of all people. The one person in the world who had always been able to understand her. To know just what it was that she meant.

"Say that I was waiting for you….I wasn't. Mob…I would never have asked you for this. You were my student and my friend and-" said Reigen. This was a conversation that did not need to be had again. There was no sense in beating a dead horse. She didn't give a damn about their history or their age gap or how any of this looked…so he shouldn't have, either. Really there was no sense in caring about any of that now. The couple ship had said long ago. Not that he wanted to go back. There was no turning this ship around and there was no jumping overboard, either.

"I don't regret this. I'm a lot better at getting a clue now and I know what you're going to say when you get like this. Arataka, I do not regret this and I don't think that it's weird or anything like that. I'm happy. I honestly can't ever remember ever being this happy." Said Mob

"You've been in a relationship before." Said Reigen

"Yes, but this is different. This is with you…and I had feelings for you for a very long time…and I still do. I don't think that there's anything wrong with that and I don't…I wish you didn't think so, either. It hurts me….that you have doubts…that you talk about having doubts." Said Mob

"It's not about doubts it's about….you know that I love you and you know that I wouldn't trade what we have for the world-" said Reigen. She needed to know that regardless of how he felt he wanted this. He wanted this and he wanted her. He wanted her more than anything else in the world.

"Neither would I." said Mob. She loved him and she would not have traded him for anything else in the whole world.

"But it's just…I knew you when you were eleven…and I'm still not fully over that. I'm still not fully over the fact that you were a kid and I was in my twenties when we met…and it's going to take time…but I'm not going anywhere." Said Reigen

"Is that why you sometimes don't want to hold hands when we walk home together?" asked Mob. She knew that it was still new to him, it was new to her too, but he cared about things that she didn't. Like what people thought. She wasn't hurting anyone, and she was an adult, so to her it didn't matter…but to other people it did. They lived in a world with other people…and they were not an island…which meant that they did not exist all on their own.

"Yes…but I am, also, legitimately way too sweaty for my own good. I'm not even sure if this is healthy. I should maybe see a doctor about this." said Reigen with a laugh. It wasn't real, not really, and he knew that she could tell. She knew him well enough by now to be able to tell.

"You should…and you don't have to hold my hand if you don't want to. You don't have to show people that we're a couple if you don't want to." Said Mob. She meant it even though it hurt. She wanted to shout it from the rooftops. She was Reigen Arataka's girlfriend at last! But he was not her and he did not feel the way that she did and that…that was ok. She did not get to tell him how to feel. He had his feelings and she had hers and that was ok.

"Mob…no. I want to. I mean…there's no point in hiding it. Everyone we know already knows. I just…I'm the one being ridiculous here." Said Reigen. Really, what was the point in agonizing over how this looked? It wasn't like he could change anything. It wasn't like he wanted to change anything. Mob was his girlfriend. He had wanted to be with Mob for…longer than he was comfortable admitting to himself. Much longer than he was comfortable admitting to himself.

"Ridiculous?" asked Mob. She had seen him being ridiculous. Getting up at midnight to try out their new takoyaki maker had been ridiculous. Jumping up onto the kitchen table when he saw a cockroach had been ridiculous. Leaving the bread out and letting it get all moldy had been ridiculous. The way he was being now, open and honest and sincere, was in no way, shape, or form ridiculous.

"Yeah. Everyone we know now that we're a couple so I shouldn't give a damn what strangers on the street think. I love you and it shouldn't matter to me-" said Reigen

"It's ok that it matters. You can feel the way you feel and that's ok. I feel…I feel like it doesn't matter but you feel like it does and that's ok." Said Mob

"But it's a ridiculous way to feel. I mean, we're already told everyone we know. What should it matter what people who don't even know who we are think? You're an adult and I'm an adult and it's not like I've been into you since you were a kid. I mean I met you when you were eleven but I was not into you when you were eleven…I would have had to kill myself if I had been….and it's not like either of us is doing anything so I shouldn't feel like this. I'm being ridiculous and paranoid and ridiculously paranoid." Said Reigen

"You can feel however you want. There's no right or wrong way to feel about this. I just want you to feel happy and comfortable. I know that we told everyone we know but…but there's a difference between telling people who we know and are close to us and telling everyone in the world. There are a lot more people in the world than there are people we know, for one thing, and also not everyone thinks the way that I do. Some people might think that it's weird and…and what people think matters. Not a lot but a little…and I know that it matters to you." Said Mob

"Well it shouldn't. You, Mob, are what matters. You matter and I need….I need to get over myself. I can't live my whole life trying to please everyone. My life is my own and I chose to spend it with you, ok? That was just me being…me…and I don't want to…to be like that. I want to be with you and I don't…I shouldn't care how randos on the street feel about that." Said Reigen

"Arataka-" said Mob

"Besides, we're already holding hands and we've been holding hands this whole time. It's ridiculous to feel like anybody is watching or even cares." Said Reigen

"You can feel however you want to." Said Mob. There was no right or wrong way to feel. If he wanted to feel…that way…about her holding his hand then she would stop. She wanted nothing more or less than his happiness. They were a couple, now, and his happiness was her happiness. That was how it worked…and not just because of how his powers worked. That was just how love worked.

"I know. This is how I want to feel." Said Reigen. He pulled her close and he kissed her. Not one of those long, passionate, tip her over movie kisses and not one of their all alone in their beds kisses, either. Just a normal kiss, the kind a guy would give his girlfriend after a long day of work. Maybe not the most appropriate thing to do in public but, hey, he was in love.

And the whole world ought to know it.


End file.
